With no refrigerator vans for disaster victim identification (DVI) operations in Yolanda-hit areas, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said unprocessed bodies in advanced state of decomposition are left with no choice but a temporary burial.
Dr Wilfredo Tierra, officer-in-charge (OIC) of the NBI Medico-Legal Division, said the bodies will be buried in shallow graves and exhumed later on for processing – an arrangement agreed on with the local government.
In an interview with Rappler on Wednesday, January 8, Tierra explained that "continuous verbal requests" by their bureau for refrigerator vans had been addressed to various agencies even before Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit.
Because of the less-than-ideal conditions in their DVI operations work site, the team is able to process only 40 bodies compared to what should normally be 150 bodies in a day.
Thus far, 418 unidentified bodies have been processed for DNA sampling and buried permanently at the Holy Cross Memorial. The samples will be kept for DNA testing later on.
The ante-mortem phase of the process will involve DNA testing of relatives coming forward to compare with that of the dead for identification.
The OIC added that DVI has always been a "tedious, difficult, and costly" process, citing the 5,000 dead bodies in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand which took up to two years to identify.
Constraints
Tierra’s division deploys a 13-man team working on a rotational 9-day basis – including during the previous holiday season when the 418 bodies were processed and buried at the Holy Cross Memorial, contradicting the pronouncement of Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez that the team halted operations.
The team is composed of forensic doctors, photographers, and chemists from the NBI Forensic Chemistry Division.
Due to the disproportionate number of government personnel to the dead, the team is forced to do tasks other than the processing of bodies. They have been moving bodies as well – a task supposedly for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
The NBI team on scheduled rotation, he said, also faces other constraints, including the frequent rain in the area which causes flooding and makes it harder to harvest specimen for processing.
In the initial phases, the lack of air transportation was also a problem.
Despite the constraints, the NBI assured the public that it is relying on tried and tested protocol – the Interpol DVI standards.
Tierra – who has been with the NBI Medico-Legal Division for 17 years now – said the Interpol DVI standards are in accordance with the protocol that the team employed in previous natural and man-made disasters. These included typhoons Reming, Sendong, Pablo, and the 2006 ULTRA stampede.
Multi-agency task
The NBI Medico-Legal Division is taking the lead in the DVI operations in affected areas, but the Department of Health (DOH) is in charge of the overall management of the dead.
Managing the thousands of dead bodies remains a “multi-agency task,” with the DOH, local government units, AFP, BFP, and non-government agencies such as the World Health Organization and International Committee of the Red Cross.
Tierra said the scale of Yolanda’s devastation is the biggest that he has encountered in his more than a decade of medico-legal service in government.
Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) devastated parts of the Eastern Visayas in November 2013, leaving thousands homeless and mourning for the dead.
Speed should not prevail over accuracy
"Speed should not prevail over accuracy," said Justice Secretary Leila De Lima about the ongoing burial of corpses in areas battered by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).
It is the need for accuracy, among other things, that has delayed burial of the rapidly decomposing bodies.
"The corpses were not buried right away because they were still being processed. Processing is time-consuming," she explained, almost two* months after Yolanda devastated the Eastern Visayas. Processing, she added, is necessary to identify those left dead by the storm.
"We don't want to be turning over the wrong dead bodies to certain families," she emphasized.
The explanation came after the media reported 1,400 bodies left lying on a muddy open field in San Isidro, a farming village on the outskirts of hard-hit Tacloban City. There were also reports of unburied bodies in other devastated areas 7 weeks after the disaster.
She quelled fears that the government was taking its time in burying the bodies, while citizens took it upon themselves to bury loved ones and complete strangers.
"We are on double time to bury bodies, both processed and unprocessed," the DOJ chief said.
. To remedy the slow-going operation, local governments and national agencies agreed to temporarily bury the bodies. They will then be exhumed later on for processing by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), said De Lima.
Uncooperative weather
Rainshowers that drenched the Eastern Visayas the past few weeks was another major cause of delay.
"There were factors like rainy days in succession. It's difficult to work in a rainy environment. It's one of the causes for the delay in burials," she explained.
Contrary to media reports, the NBI did not stop rehabilitation operations during the holiday break, De Lima clarified. A skeletal force left in Tacloban continued processing of the bodies.
"Before holiday break, there were more than 400 processed bodies which were not yet buried. During the break, they were buried," she said in a mix of English and Filipino.
More help on the way
After an initial rift between the national and local governments that also hampered relief and rehabilitation efforts, De Lima said the two are coordinating closely with one another for burial operations.
More teams of forensic doctors and chemists who can help in the processing of dead bodies are on their way to Tacloban. Three teams were sent there on January 2 and more will be deployed, she said.
Such scientists are needed to identify bodies in an advanced state of decomposition. With their facial features marred by decomposition, only scientific analysis of their DNA can unlock their identities.
Rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson said the burial, which started on Thursday, January 2, is expected to be completed on Tuesday, January 7, if the weather cooperates. He said that Health Undersecretary Janette Garin is in Barangay (village) Suhi in Tacloban to personally supervise operations.
The Department of Public Works and Highways sent additional equipment such as backhoes and payloaders, to speed up the mass burial. By Saturday, January 4, the team is targeting the processing and burial of 300 bodies.
Wednesday 08 January 2014
http://www.rappler.com/nation/47496-nbi-haiyan-bodies-no-choice-temporary-burial
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/disasters/typhoon-yolanda/47186-doj-haiyan-burials-accuracy-speed
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