how did they deal with the bodies after the tsunami?

[all.of.me]

it seemed more organized than this mess. they were helping survivors AND dealing with the dead, weren't they?! how come we can't do that?!

[roguevalley]

1. mass graves I am sure.

[quisp]

2. mass cremation

it's quicker, easier and more sanitary.

[all.of.me]

3. but remember how they had them lined up on the beaches

and in other places so people could identify them?

hmmmm.... now that i think about it, there is no one around TO identify them. ugh. this is making me sicker and sicker.....

[architect359]

10. Not sure about the other Asian countries...

...but in India, I remember seeing pictures of pyres on the beaches that were burning for days on end. I'm guessing maybe mass graves in Indonesia - only because of the sheer volume, but I don't know for sure. No doubt the sea has claimed its share too when it pulled out.

It'll be tough in N.O. - I read that the bodies will be hard to I.D. due to decomposition after all this time...

:-(

[henslee]

4. A good deal of them washed out to sea.

[Wind Dancer]

5. Great article addressing the differences.

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-09/03vltchek.cfm



September 03, 2005

Hurricane Katrina – View From Asia

By Andre Vltchek

More than 8 months ago, one of the worst natural disasters in a human history destroyed substantial part of a province under Indonesian control - Aceh. Although exact number will never be known, close to 250 thousand people lost their lives during the under-ocean earthquake and consequent tsunami; tens of thousands died in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand combined. It is now clear that tens of thousands more people died due to inadequate response of Indonesian government and military, stranded in remote areas with no food, drinking water, shelter and medical care.

-snip-


Today, one of the reports by Reuters starts with these words: "U.S. troops poured into New Orleans of Friday with shoot-to-kill orders to scare off looting gangs so rescuers can help thousands of people stranded by Hurricane Katrina, find the dead and clean up the carnage." But during the previous days, cameras recorded "looting" by desperate men and women, breaking into the supermarkets and stores, simply trying to survive. Of course there are gangs terrorizing the people in New Orleans area; of course there is shooting and anarchy; but is it the whole story? If the help would arrive sooner; there would be obviously no need for looting and no chance for gangs to organize.

-snip-


On Thursday, the whole world watched as buses were shuttling people from the Dome in New Orleans (where almost everything collapsed; from air conditioning to the toilets) to Astrodome in Huston, Texas (where thousands of victims of the hurricane were expected to sleep on the military beds and share just a few toilets originally designed for the athletes). It was hard to avoid asking: is this really the best the US government can do for those who are experiencing severe trauma; for those who lost everything? This is not Aceh but Houston, Texas, the center of the US oil industry and space program, with hundreds of hotels and motels spread all over the area!

In Thailand, dozens of hotels (and private homes) opened their doors to survivors and to the family members (local and foreign) who were searching for their loved ones. Was it lack of solidarity of corporate America that prevented this from happening in the United States? And if it was, why didn't the government force these hotel doors open for refugees - through an emergency decree? Or is this just another proof that private sector and private property is sacred; more sacred than human life? Should it be taken as a warning: that from now on things will become this way?

-more-

It's long but well worth the read.

[all.of.me]

7. thanks.

how ironic - houston/oil. i didn't put that together.

[Ilsa]

6. If you want some really interesting reading for comparison, look up

how they took care of the bodies after the great flood in Galveston in 1900 after a storm surge and hurricane. From Wikipedia:

"The bodies were so numerous that burial was not a viable option. Initially, the dead were taken out to sea and dumped. However, the currents of the gulf washed the bodies back onto the beach, so a new solution was needed. Funeral pyres were set up wherever the dead were found. In the aftermath of the storm, pyres burned for weeks."

What they didn't say is that the people who had to collect the bodies and burn them were the African Americans. I think I remember hearing that they were given alcohol to deal with the horror of what they were doing.

[all.of.me]

8. wow.

it's a trauma beyond traumatic.

[Taxloss]

9. Many of them were stored in shipping containers for weeks

waiting to be identified. It was the largest forensics effort in history.

[all.of.me]

11. ew. in that heat? what a job.

i am having a hard time imagining things this way. i can't be the only one who just can't get a logical handle on it!