Mass pits hide Haiti's dead===Dump trucks loaded with the rotting corpses

[shopgreen]

there is a pic and video at the site. Adding to the horror is just vanishing.



# CNN's Anderson Cooper reported on a mass grave with hundreds of bodies
# Fear of disease is frequently the reason for rapidly burying bodies in mass graves
# This theory is unfounded, because disease-causing agents die with the corpse
# WHO report: "Rapid mass burial of victims is not justified on public health grounds"

http://edition.cnn.com/
Dump trucks loaded with the rotting corpses of people killed in Tuesday's earthquake emptied their cargo in mass pits on the outskirts of the Haitian capital. No names were recorded. These people could just vanish. FULL STORY

[ddeclue]

1. Stop ascribing bad motives - they are simply trying to prevent disease outbreak.

There are far too many dead to have individual burials right now. This is inevitable when you have 140,000 dead at one time. It has been done in the past in the U.S. such as at the Galveston hurricane.

[shopgreen]

4. I did not ascribe bad motives. I fully realize the

specter of disease. I was only saying how horrible it is to just vanish.

[CoffeeCat]

I wouldn't ascribe bad motives...

...but I think this horrendous situation--burying thousands in mass graves--underscores the
notion that Haiti needs a lot of help and that this is a catastrophe of epic proportions.

They need help and the need it now. Any delays will only make the situation more dire.

[BeFree]

19. Galveston?

You have a link for that?

[hobbit709]

25. One link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. I think he's referring to the circe 1900 one.

Not the recent one, which came with a lot of woo woo nonsense.

[EFerrari]

42. That was CNN's headline, not the poster's.

[elehhhhna]

51. but they have other options111!!!

1) hold them in refrigerated trucks. Right.

2) watch dogs and rats eat them. Nice.

People, THINK for a minute.

[hobbit709]

2. what a load of taurine metabolic byproducts.

If you don't think mass bodies don't cause disease, you don't know much about reality.

Have you ever smelled rotting bodies by the hundreds?

[shopgreen]

7. stop reading sillyness into my OP. I know full well the problem

of disease.

[elehhhhna]

50. I whiffed the aftermath of a suicide after 3 days in an air conditioned house

(the body was gone but the explosive rest of him was everywhere).

Unbearable.

[timeforpeace]

3. Time to scratch my promoting tourism idea.

[Spazito]

5. Your OPs have been consistent....

and rather obvious. Each and every one spewing more crap than the last one.

[shopgreen]

8. your post shows how little you know.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Well, maybe.

But he knows enough to have you figured out. I'll agree that's not saying much, but...

[shopgreen]

14. LOL.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. You're laughing, but I don't think you get it.

[liberalmuse]

6. What is your point?

Should they leave the bodies lying in the street to decay when it could take weeks to secure a proper burial? It's really easy for people who don't know shit to sit in their comfy chairs and judge others reactions in a situation they've never experienced themselves.

[shopgreen]

11. my point is that these people will just vaish with loved ones looking

for them. just vanish. that is another horror. I do realize the problem of disease and the need for fast burial. NO need to be so crappy with me.

[MineralMan]

18. Very sad, isn't it? What's even sadder is for people to watch the

maggots eat their loved ones because there's no practical way to bury them in a city as dense as Port au Prince. Looked at a map of the city?

There are many tragic things about this disaster. The dead are no longer experiencing them. Move them out and make room to help the living.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. "disease causing agents die with the corpse"

Do you realize that scientists are now working on an interesting theory that diseases are caused by germs, as opposed to demon possession or imbalanced humours?

[shopgreen]

17. You making fun of my sincere post is what is disturbing.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Are you really sincere when you claim that when people die then diseases die?

Really?

[shopgreen]

24. I never said that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

29. "disease-causing agents die with the corpse"

:shrug:

[rd_kent]

35. uh, yeah you did.....

[MineralMan]

10. In mass disasters mass graves are always required.

There is no other solution available. Right now, feeding and watering the population is Job 1. The dead are not part of that job. They're dead.

[shopgreen]

13. yes, I realize that. It is a necessity-the rapid burials.

[MineralMan]

23. Then, I ask you again: What is the point of your post?

Are you just saying: "O! The Howwow!. Yes, it's sad and horrible that there's no way to have nice funerals and graves for these people. There are more critical issues, though. Failing to solve those would magnify the horror dramatically.

Think. Then think again. Then post.

[shopgreen]

26. Read my posts upstream and use your brain. I am done talking with you.

[MineralMan]

30. Do you promise?

[hobbit709]

32. We can only hope

:rofl:

[liberal N proud]

15. Nothing else to do

Many don't have anyone to bury them and there are too many to handle normal funerals and cemeteries.

This is no the first time mass graves were necessary in disasters. I am sure it will not be the last.

Terrible? yes
Heart wrenching? YES
Unavoidable? NO!

We must help the survivors.

[shopgreen]

34. I agree, It is unavoidable. It has to be done. I did not

infer, nor say it was not necessary. I was speaking of the horror of 'just vanishing".

[MineralMan]

52. Essentially, we all just "vanish."

At 64, I'm more than aware that I could "vanish" tomorrow. So be it. I have had my life. Those who care about me will mourn, as I have mourned for my friends and family who are gone. Such is life.

[MineralMan]

16. So, name your workable alternative.

What's your point in posting this, anyhow? Mass burials are how it's done. You want nice funerals and coffins and neat burials? Who do you suppose is going to do the work.

This is a silly OP.

[shopgreen]

21. I was struck of the horror of "just vanishing" on top of the horror of

of the deaths and diseases and pure misery. Having to die a horrible death and then on top of that--their loved ones never knowing where they are. They will be always wondering--where their loved ones are. I stuck me as being so so so horrible.

[MineralMan]

28. There are many levels of horror in Port au Prince.

Actually, most will not be wondering where their loved ones are. They'll know. You're projecting some middle-class suburban nonsense on a situation that is so far beyond your experience that you cannot understand that there are worse horrors than knowing some relative is in a mass grave.

Trust me.

[shopgreen]

33. I will not trust you. It is you are projecting your insenitive senibilites

onto the people of Haiti. You think these folks do not want to say goodbye in some sort of ceremony? Of course,many will know their loved ones are in one of the many landfills. That is not my point--it is the just vanishing-the no names. just vanishing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Here is what happens in the RECOVERY PHASE

in a few months there is going to be a mass... for all the dead... that is how nations deal with this

[EFerrari]

39. Well, no. Even before the mass graves were filled after the tsunami

the government did its best to photograph the bodies before they were buried.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. You do know they are doing that as best as they can

that and pieces of clothing...

One of the lessons of the tusnami.

The ICRC has that little tidbit on their website.

[scarletwoman]

38. Most of their loved ones were probably with them when they died, or are also dead.

Those who witnessed the deaths of their family members DO know what happened to them, they won't be left "wondering".

For those others whose loved ones weren't with them when they died, the survivors will probably figure out that the missing ones are no doubt dead. There won't be any mystery about it.

This isn't like a situation where a single individual inexplicably just disappears one day, leaving a family behind wondering and agonizing over that person's fate. When there are hundreds and hundreds of deaths in a single catastrophe, those left behind don't really have to wonder too much about what might have happened to the person they can't find.

And if there's no one left behind to wonder, then it's just over. Dust to dust...

Yes, it's sad, that's why such a catastrophic situation is rightly called a tragedy.

sw

[MineralMan]

31. Jesus had an answer for this:

"Let the dead bury the dead." He apparently knew what was and was not important.

[rd_kent]

36. And what is your point? Getting the dead out of the way is a MUST in order to care for the LIVING!

[Vickers]

37. Some of what you posted makes sense (except the ridiculous 3rd item), but

the "corpse management" guidelines that you are referring to are not talking about a tragedy on the scale of the Haiti earthquake, where there are tens of thousand of corpses.

They are talking about smaller scale tragedies (a building collapses, a building fire, etc.) where the numbers are in the dozens or, at most, hundreds.

This is a whole different ballgame.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. So exactly how do you deal with dead bodies rotting in the street?

If they did not do that... and cholera breaks out (and it probably will still do but less than otherwise), you'd be screaming about them not doing this correctly.

Yes, they SHOULD put them in mass graves, and keep a count... which they are... so far 40K... and if they run out of places to dig,,, yes... burning is what you do.

People stop reaching for the tin foil!

[Warpy]

41. What else do you expect them to do with decomposing bodies in

a hot climate? Keep them for souvenirs? There are no morgues, no refrigeration, no power for refrigeration if they had it.

Yes, it's sad that they will just disappear. However, there are more buried under tons of rubble who will never be found, at all. New buildings will simply be built over the rubble, the way poor people have done things since we first started to walk upright.

If other needs weren't so desperate, perhaps people could have gone around taking digital pictures of the dead for future reference by any surviving families. Unfortunately, survival issues are coming first.

[shopgreen]

43. It is exactly what I expect them do. It is just

horrible and add another horror--the just disappearing. It stuns me-the misery these people are though.

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. Yes it is stunning, but this is the way it is

in any disaster.

I wish they were able to do this in a better way, but in reality next thing they will do is burn them... and that is sadly the way it is.

As I said, as a nation mark my words, there will be a religious service, once they can do that, to mourn the dead.

[FarCenter]

46. How would you identify them? No one really knew how many people were in Port au Prince anyway

[Rosa Luxemburg]

49. Very sad

[RedRocco]

48. I would say the pits and pyres are needed

[FedUpWithIt All]

53. Welcome to DU. I agree that, although there is a need for rapid massive burial efforts, it is sad.

Unfortunately, right now, that is only one of a great many tragic and sad circumstances going on in Haiti.
:-(
DU can be a very emotional place on a good day. During times of tragedy it can get a little ramped up. People can become a little more reactive.