Mass Fatality Management following the South Asian Tsunami Disaster Case Studies in Thailand Indonesia and Sri Lanka

The authors of this report conducted three descriptive case studies after the tsunami disaster in December 2004 to systematically document how the deceased were managed in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. The following parameters were considered: body recovery and storage, identification, disposal of human remains, and health risks from dead bodies. Through their case studies, the author’s found the following: refrigeration for preserving human remains was not available soon enough after the disaster, none of the countries had sufficient forensic capacity to identify thousands of victims, and the lack of national or local mass fatality plans limited the quality and timeliness of response.