More dead bodies recovered in Misamis Occ shores

OZAMIZ CITY, Misamis Occidental, Jan. 13 (PIA) -- At least six (6) more dead human bodies in advanced stages of decomposition were recovered from the shores of Misamis Occidental while nine (9) others in the same condition were recovered from the shores of Zamboanga del Norte, days after the onslaught of Typhoon Sendong.

This brings up to 1,388 the number of accounted dead bodies who were believed victims of ‘Sendong,’ of which only 837 were identified, as of yesterday, Jan. 12, Regional Director Ana Caňeda of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), region 10, said.

Data gathered by the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC), region 10, also show that 737 of the dead bodies were from Cagayan de Oro City, 693 were from Iligan City and 45 were from Bukidnon.

Caňeda, who is the Chairperson of RDRRMC-10, said their data also show that 5,889 were injured during the onslaught of TS Sendong, but only 138 of them were identified.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been cited as government cluster lead, with Dr. Tammy Uy as focal person, in the Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) Cluster.

As of Jan. 5, the DVI Team has taken a total of 243 specimens for DNA testing, gathered 214 specimens for ante mortem data and processed and buried 200 unidentified bodies in Cagayan de Oro City.

It has also taken a total of 121 specimens for DNA testing, gathered 118 specimen for ante-mortem data and processed and buried 128 unidentified bodies in Iligan City, as of the period. (PIA-10 Mis. Occ.)

by Rutchie Cabahug-Aguhob
PIA Press Release
Friday, January 13, 2012

http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=72485

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Mom still hopeful of finding 3 kids lost in flood after almost a month

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Lucina Waluhan’s only wish when she celebrated her 32nd birthday on Thursday was to see her three children again.

Nearly a month since up to 30 feet of rampaging water inundated the city on Dec. 17, Lucina said she had not lost hope of seeing them one day.

Mary, 6; Ian, 4; and Joshua, 2 years old, were among hundreds of people still missing from the devastating flood that had killed some 700 people.

When the flood struck, Lucina said her husband, Felix, had wrapped Mary Joy with a jacket and tied her on his back.

She said she took their two other children with her as they drifted down the river. “I lost them (Ian and Joshua) under the bridge,” she recounted.

Lucina was later rescued in Camiguin Island while Felix was swept and rescued in Iligan City.

As tears rolled down her cheek, Lucina said it was important for her to see her children again, even if they died in the flood.

“I wanted to see them even if they are gone, that way at least, I know where they are,” she said.

Felix refused to talk about his children anymore.

But Lucina said her husband did not tire looking for them every day.

She said Felix—armed with photos of their three children—would visit nearby areas, including mortuaries, in search of the children.

Lucina said they also provided the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) with their blood samples for DNA extraction.

The NBI’s disaster victim identification process would help identify those who perished in a calamity.

The bodies of those who perished in the Dec. 17 flood here were processed at the hangar of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

“It would take at least two months before the result could be released,” Lucina said.

Lucina said she and her husband had not given up hope of finding the children, or at least one of them, one day.

The couple’s neighbors at the evacuation center here told the Inquirer there are nights when they could hear Lucina crying.

“Felix would stand outside the tent, staring into the night sky as if looking for answers for the questions he cannot fathom,” one of them said.

“The hardest thing to do is to give up hope knowing that we have not seen any body and they had not appeared in our dreams, somehow, we know that they are in good hands, but we need to see them so we can rest too,” Lucina said.

By Bobby Lagsa
Inquirer Mindanao
10:56 pm | Friday, January 13th, 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/127657/mom-still-hopeful-of-finding-3-kids-lost-in-flood-after-almost-a-month

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Pilot farewelled as identification process continues

Hot balloon pilot Lance Hopping packed a lot into his 53 years, including meeting his father late in life.

Mr Hopping, who was at the helm of the balloon that crashed near Carterton on Saturday, killing all 11 on board, was reunited 17 years ago with his terminally ill father Martin, who travelled from Australia in search of his long-lost son.

"They made up for the years apart and spent as much time together as they could," Mr Hopping's three sisters said in a statement issued by police last night.

Sadly, Mr Hopping did not get a chance to meet his sixth grandchild, who was born two weeks ago in Sydney.

"Lance was a great brother, he had a great loving relationship with his family and friends and there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for anyone," his sisters said.

"He loved his Harley, he loved his helicopters and balloons and he loved to drive his car fast, but his greatest love was his family."

Mr Hopping, affectionately known as Hoppy, began flying helicopters about 20 years ago as a hobby after gaining his pilot's licence and dropped his children to school in his helicopter as a special treat.

Children Henare Hopping, 35, Hayley Hopping, 31, Dani Siemonek, 22, and fiancee Nina Kelynack described him as "really happy, vibrant, caring, big-hearted, with a good sense of humour and a cheeky grin".

"Everyone in Carterton knew Hoppy and he will be greatly missed. He is gone too soon."

His funeral will be held on Monday in Carterton.

Meanwhile, officers identifying the bodies of the victims have undergone compulsory sessions with a police psychologist.

"After an event like this we always go through trauma counselling," Wairarapa area commander Inspector Brent Register said.

He said about 18 officers from Wairarapa and around the Wellington police district had been involved in the disaster victim identification (DVI) process.

That process continues at Wellington mortuary, while the police family liaison unit will continue to deliver news of positive identification to the families of unidentified victims.

Four of the 11 bodies have been formally identified – Mr Hopping, Wellington couple Johannes Jordaan, known as Chrisjan, 21, and girlfriend Alexis Still, 19, and Stephen Hopkirk, 50, of Lower Hutt.

Police and Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) scene examinations have concluded at the site and a container holding balloon wreckage was removed from the scene just after 1.30pm yesterday.
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The container was to be kept at a secure Wairarapa facility overnight and transported to TAIC's Wellington workshop today.

The site – a paddock on the Searle family farm – was then blessed with water, waiata, prayer and song by a group from Carterton's Hurunui-O-Rangi marae, with representatives from Wairarapa's two main iwi, and Carterton's St Mark's Church.

"It really marks the transition from a time and place where something dreadful happened to a time when the land returns to its usual use," the Rev Jenny Chalmers of St Mark's said.

The ceremony was attended by emergency services staff, air accident investigators, victims' family members, police, Somerset Rd residents and Victim Support staff.

Last updated 05:00 13/01/2012
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/6249947/Pilot-farewelled-as-identification-process-continues

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Breath test could identify trapped disaster victims

People trapped after disasters could be rescued by searching for the chemicals in their breath, scientists report.

Research published in the Journal of Breath Research describes experiments using volunteers in a mock-up of a collapsed building.

Molecules such as acetone and ammonia in the participants' breath were easily detected through the simulated rubble.

The findings are being used to develop an "electronic sniffer dog" that could search disaster sites for survivors.

A demonstration device has already been produced by one of the collaborators on the research, but the intent is to supplement rather than replace the search-and-rescue dogs currently employed.

"Dogs are fantastic but they don't work for very long, and they undergo injury and suffering as a result of their work in a search and rescue environment," said Paul Thomas, the Loughborough University chemist who led the research.

"We don't know what the dogs detect. The whole Second Generation Locator project is about producing better sensors and systems that can find people," Professor Thomas told BBC News.
Rescue dog in Tohoku earthquake effort Rescue dogs work for short periods, risking life and limb

"We need to try and define in scientific terms what a 'signs of life detector' would need to respond to. But what starts from a human and travels through building may not be what gets to the end of the building - there's a whole range of materials that it has to pass over and through."

To determine what chemicals future detector technology should be sensitive to, Professor Thomas and his colleagues carried out a series of experiments using eight volunteers confined in a box for six hours.

The gases escaping from the box were gathered up and passed through a cylinder filled with building materials simulating more than two metres of rubble from a glass and reinforced concrete building.

A wide array of instruments measured what came through the materials.

The team found a number of molecules that were detectable, principally carbon dioxide and ammonia, along with acetone and isoprene.

Professor Thomas said that the demonstration "signs of life detector" that the team used "worked beautifully".

"Our chemical sensors detected what we were looking for rapidly, within an hour of someone being 'buried' there."

The team will now carry out further tests using longer periods in the simulator; as the volunteers spend longer and longer without food, a different array of "metabolite" chemicals should become apparent, as well as chemical components of urine that trapped victims would likely release

By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News
12 September 2011 Last updated at 13:25

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14859492

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National ID system to help recognize disaster victims

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation Disaster Victim Identification Team (NBI-DVI) believes a national ID system would help future efforts in identifying victims of disasters.
Speaking on ANC's "Headstart," NBI Medico Legal Officer Doctor Wilfredo Tierra suggested the creation of a national database of medical and dental files to help future identification efforts.

"We also suggest to the national government, kahit government employees magka-dental exam by the city or municipal dentist for complete dental file."

The suggestion came as NBI-DVI teams in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan enter the second stage of identifying victims of Tropical Storm Sendong disaster victims, which involves post-mortem or the full examination of dead bodies, checking of dental records, finger printing, and harvesting of DNA samples.

They have already completed the pre-operational phase, which involves the creation of makeshift morgues.

After the second phase is completed, the team will move into ante mortem, which involves talking to relatives of the victims about the process, and harvesting samples for DNA analysis.

This is followed by the reconciliation phase, or matching data in the post-mortem and ante-mortem phases, informing the next of kin, and turning over the bodies to the families.

"After the reconciliation process, pag na-identify na sila, we can release the body and give it to the rightful claimant," said Tierra, who heads the NBI-DVI Team in CDO.

The NBI-DVI Team has dealt with some of the worst disasters in the country in recent history.

These include: the sinking of the MV Doña Paz (July 2008), the Superferry 14 fire (February 2004), the Wowowee stampede (February 2006), landslides in Ginsaugon, Southern Leyte (February 2006).
They also helped in the identification of more 8,000 people killed in the tsunami that struck Thailand in December 2004.

Massive tragedy

Tierra admitted the scale of the tragedy brought about by Sendong is “massive.”

"In a scale of 1 to 10, this is 10 with the number of casualties, the houses destroyed along with the economy of the city. The tragedy is massive,” he said.

He noted their work is hampered by limited tools to properly identify the victims.

"It's very discouraging initially, because in this kind of case, almost all of the family members were wiped out, how do you compare the DNA sample? All the houses were destroyed. Nasaan ang fingerprints. Sino ang nakakaalam sa dentist ng taong ito," Tierra said on ANC's "Headstart."

They don’t only face the grim task of identifying the dead, but also explaining the process to relatives who lost their kin in the disaster, he said.

"Someone has to do this job to identify the dead bodies. When we reached CDO, we were really shocked, disturbed at the devastation and seeing dead people at the landfill.”

"Hindi nga po nakalinya, nakakalat lang, exposed to the environment. Nandoon yung scavengers, hayop sa landfill. Wala na bang value yung tao? Hindi dapat ganoon lang. We suggested the hangar.”

He recalled some hard decisions he had to make including closing off viewing for flood victims' relatives in Cagayan de Oro to make room for more accurate scientific identification, and ruling out a mass burial in favor of a temporary burial for the unidentified remains.

They have already buried at least 88 bodies that have gone through proper processing.

Ethics

"It is not advisable for relatives to view... It was wrong ethically, professionally. There's no way you can identify the body in that state, so we closed the door to the relatives,” he said.

"This is a scientific process of identification. We don't want to commit mistakes. We don't want to give the wrong body to them. If we will be giving wrong bodies right away because of a hunch, we defeat our protocol of disaster victim identification,” he added.

He recalled the time he refused to honor a woman's pleas to claim her supposed husband's body by virtue of a wedding ring.

"Second identification yun, but not during primary identification phase. May pagkakapareho sa singsing, sa pangalan, tattoo. May limang magkakaibigan, same tattoo same age, built, nakita name plates wala na. Relatives were clamoring, but we didn't give in and resorted to more sensitive specific methods of identification,” he said.

While fingerprinting may be more economical, Tierra said DNA identification is more accurate.

He noted the government is shouldering the cost of DNA identification estimated at P15,000 per victim.
Tierra said they are unfazed by the monumental task aimed at eventually returning the bodies to the rightful claimants and giving the dead a dignified burial.

By Caroline Howard, ANC
Posted at 12/26/2011 1:02 PM | Updated as of 12/26/2011 8:12 PM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/12/26/11/national-id-system-help-recognize-disaster-victims

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Rains kills at least 28 in southeastern Brazil

JAMAPARA, Brazil — Civil defense officials say a mudslide caused by two days of downpours has killed at least 13 people in a small town in southeastern Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro state civil defense chief Sergio Simoes tells local CBN radio that five bodies were pulled from underneath tons of mud and debris on Tuesday. Eight bodies were found on Monday.

He says 11 people are listed as missing in Jamapara, a district of the town of Sapucaia. Among the missing are five members a family whose car was caught in the mudslide.

Floods elsewhere in the state have forced more than 30,000 people from their homes.

In neighboring Minas Gerais state, more than 14,000 people have left their homes, and 15 have died in floodwaters or mudslides.

updated 1/10/2012 10:21:15 AM ET
Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45931960/ns/weather/#.Tw10brKjbcs

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NADRA sends team to Jakarta for boat victims

Islamabad—National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has dispatched a special team to Indonesia to help identify the dead bodies of Pakistanis lost their life in boat tragedy. Deputy Chairman NADRA Tariq Malik on Saturday told APP that the team has been sent to Indonesia on the direction of President Asif Ali Zardari. He said that the team is equipped with state of the art bio metric identification system and would take finger and facial prints of the victims.

He said the prints would be sent to NADRA and run it with National Data Ware House for citizen, for identification of the dead bodies. Minister for Interior A Rehman Malik has directed the authority and the Pakistan Envoy in Jakarta to help families of the victims by facilitating at earliest.

Meanwhile, families of the board victims who were worried have expressed a sigh of relief on the quick response of the authority for identification of the bodies. With 200 passengers now believed to be dead, efforts are afoot to repatriate Pakistani survivors of last week’s boat tragedy in Indonesian waters. The Pakistani Embassy in Indonesia is making arrangements to help out the survivors and to get custody of the recovered bodies, revealed a message sent on Tuesday to Islamabad by the embassy in Jakarta.

A tragic incident occurred last week when a boat carrying about 250 asylum-seekers from Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan sank in the sea near Prigi, Trengglek, East Java, Indonesia. At present, six Pakistani survivors are reportedly being kept in detention centres in the city of Surabaya and the surrounding places. The embassy team visited the Police Hospital, Surabaya on December 23 and met with Police High Commissioner Dr Didi Agus Mintadi and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Department, Jakarta Executive Director Dr Anton Castilani.

Dr Mintadi requested the head of the consular team to provide photographs, fingerprints/dental records and DNA reports of the parents of the deceased for matching and reconciling the same with the records obtained from each body. Some of the survivors may be allowed to visit the hospital mortuary to identify the bodies, Head of Chancery Zafar Iqbal said. While Dr Mintadi welcomed the suggestion.

Pakistan Observer, Wednesday 11 January 2011
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=134427

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Balloon victim identification to take time

Identification of the 11 victims of the fiery hot air balloon crash in the Wairarapa on Saturday is expected to take a number of days.

The last four bodies that had remained at the Somerset Road site were taken to the Wellington mortuary on Monday evening.

The disaster victim identification process is underway, but will take some time to complete, police say.

Wairarapa police area commander, Inspector Brent Register, says a scene examination will also continue over the next few days.

Police are working alongside the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC), which spent Monday carrying out its own detailed examination.

Emma Peel from the Civil Aviation Authority says the TAIC is looking into what caused the tragedy.

"The CAA is not conducting the safety investigation, that's being carried out be the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, and they're looking at what's caused the accident."

The CAA is investigating under the Health and Safety Act, looking at whether the company carried out its responsibilities to its employees and the passengers.

TAIC spokesman Peter Northcote says packing evidence for transport to a secure facility could take until Thursday.

The 10 passengers and pilot, all from the greater Wellington region, had been on an early morning scenic flight around Carterton before the balloon apparently hit power lines, caught fire and crashed to the ground.

The crash claimed the lives of four couples - Stephen Hopkirk and Belinda Harter, Howard and Diana Cox, Desmond and Ann Dean, and Johannes Jordann and Alexis Still - along with cousins Valerie Bennett and Denise Dellabarca, and pilot Lance Hopping.

It is New Zealand's worst air disaster since the 1979 Mt Erebus crash.

NZN / RadioLIVE
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 8:40a.m.

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Balloon-victim-identification-to-take-time/tabid/423/articleID/238655/Default.aspx#ixzz1j9AFlHnf

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NPIA - Family Liaison Officer Guidance 2008

Download PDF here

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ACPO - Guidance on Disaster Victim Identification 2011 [document]

Download pdf here

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INTERPOL Aids in Identifying “Sendong” Victims

After the rampage of typhoon “Sendong” in Northern Mindanao, thousands of lives was lost and million worth of properties were devastated. Unidentified dead bodies, mostly of mothers and children are left unclaimed and a decent burial is remained questionable.

The Philippine and National Police in its full effort, helps to identify the hundred recovered bodies. Police Chief Superintendent Lorlie Arroyo, Director of PNP Crime Laboratory admitted the victim identification was a tedious task and takes time as authorities wants to ensure efficiency.

The INTERPOL General Secretariat (IPSG) offered additional assistance in Disaster Victim Identification (DVI). DVI is the scientific procedure which involved DNA profiling, fingerprint and dental comparison to obtain conclusive identifications. It takes considerable time to reach possible identification for each victim which heavily depends on the accessibility, quality and availability of relevant supporting evidence and the processing of forensic samples.

In a Letter sent from Ret. Police Director Felizardo M Serapio Jr., Head of INTERPOL Manila, he requested support from the PNP as needed for immediate and accurate completion of victims identification. “The PNP will extend our assistance as our response to the request of INTERPOL. We are heading to a speedy identification process, enabling the victims to recover and to rebuild their lives” said PNP Chief, PDGen Nicanor A Bartolome.

Written by PNP Public Information Office Wednesday, 04 January 2012 11:29

http://www.pnp.gov.ph/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=582:interpol-aids-in-identifying-sendong-victims&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=27

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Balloon crash investigations continue

Police and partner agencies are continuing their investigations into the fatal hot air balloon crash in Somerset Road, Carterton yesterday morning.

Wairarapa Area Commander Inspector Brent Register says Police Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) and Specialist Search Group (SSG) members remain at the scene of the crash today, alongside New Zealand Fire Service personnel.

"Last night, two of the eleven bodies were removed from the scene. We are working towards removing the bodies of the other nine victims over the course of the afternoon."

Inspector Register says support is continuing to be provided to the families of the victims, as they come to terms with the loss of their loved ones as a result of this tragedy. Some families have also visited the scene of the crash with Police staff.

"We are still working with Next of Kin this morning and hope to be able to release a complete list of those believed to be deceased later this afternoon."

Inspector Register says the DVI process to formally identify all of the eleven victims will take several days to complete.

"We are continuing to work with our partner agencies, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, Civil Aviation Authority, the New Zealand Fire Service, Department of Labour, the Coroner's office and Victim Support, to ascertain how this fatal crash occurred."

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission's enquiry will determine the cause of the crash. The CAA is looking at occupational safety and health and regulatory matters. The NZ Fire Service is providing expertise to the investigations. Victim Support are assisting the Police Family Liaison Team and providing assistance to the families of the deceased. The Police DVI Team is supporting the Coroner, who will confirm identity and cause of death of the deceased.

Inspector Register says eye witnesses have been formally interviewed and Police are now working with partner agencies to share information which will aid in the investigation.

"This is not a quick process and will take some time to complete, to ensure we complete a thorough investigation into how this tragedy occurred and ensure incidents of this nature do not reoccur in the future."

Sunday, 8 January, 2012 - 12:12

http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/balloon-crash-investigations-continue/5/111909

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Libyan plan to trace mass graves and missing people

As Libyans celebrate the fall of Muammar Gaddafi following his death last week, the country's transitional government has already set up a commission that it says will ensure the transparent and orderly exhumation and identification of bodies from mass graves.

"It will take a few months to work out the number of people missing," says Salim Al-Serjani, vice-president of the newly formed National Commission for Tracing and Identifying Missing Persons.

Speaking to New Scientist from Libya's capital Tripoli, he said that 4000 to 5000 people went missing during the 42 years of Gaddafi's dictatorship, on a crude estimate, and around 20,000 to 25,000 more are thought to have gone missing in the nine-month conflict that ended last week. "The old regime didn't like to give out any information, so it will take a while to know more exact figures," he said.
Outside help

Al-Serjani said that Libya's National Transitional Council has already been working with organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross to get Libyans trained to do exhumations properly. "We've already had people trained by outside experts on how to deal with mass graves to avoid misidentifications and collect and store ante-mortem data," he said. "We're training our team how to take and handle DNA samples from corpses, and how to take GPS readings for each new grave."

Al-Serjani also acknowledged the importance of leaving exhumations to experts and of not disturbing evidence vital for identification of remains, as urged last month by the Red Cross and the International Commission on Missing Persons in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was set up to investigate mass graves following the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. He said that the National Transitional Council has used radio bulletins and newspaper reports to urge former rebels not to disturb or despoil newly found graves.

Al-Serjani said that Libya's new commission for identifying missing persons would remain neutral on the subject of criminal prosecutions, leaving investigations of possible war crimes to international bodies such as Human Rights Watch. The reason: to ensure justice for the dead on all sides of the conflict. For example, the bodies of 53 executed Gaddafi supporters have been discovered in Sirte. "Regarding criminal justice and human rights, we're trying to be neutral," Al-Serjani says. "The idea is that we are completely transparent."

So far, the largest mass grave identified contains an estimated 1270 bodies close to the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. Inmates protesting about prison conditions were massacred there in June 1996, according to Human Rights Watch. The Red Cross has helped in the orderly identification of 125 buried victims of the recent fighting from 12 locations around the country.

Soaade Messoudi, a spokeswoman in Tripoli for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told New Scientist that the organisation has set up a confidential database to accept reports from family members of mass graves, missing people, arrests and detentions.
Crime scenes

Outside observers, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, say it's important to record any information from mass graves that might later be useful as evidence in criminal investigations.

"Each site should be treated as if it's a crime scene, and you must presume there might be criminal investigations in the future," says Ian Hanson, a forensic archaeologist at Bournemouth University, UK, and a veteran adviser on the exhumation procedures that followed the Balkan and Iraq conflicts.

Hanson says that creation 15 years ago of the International Commission on Missing Persons in the Balkans was the first systematic effort to document evidence from mass graves properly and identify remains. So far, about 17,000 bodies have been identified of the estimated 30,000 who went missing during the Balkan conflict, mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Around 20,000 bone samples and 80,000 blood samples have been taken since 1996, he says.

In Iraq, where Hanson says at least 300,000 went missing during the rule of Saddam Hussein, a law was introduced in 2006 to protect mass graves. At present, around 2000 to 4000 Iraqi cases are being resolved each year, and Hanson says it will be decades before all the country's "missing" are identified.

This piece has been altered from an earlier version which mistakenly stated that the ICRC would make contents of its database available to the new authorities.

Updated 18:15 26 October 2011 by Andy Coghlan

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21086-libyan-plan-to-trace-mass-graves-and-missing-people.html

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22nd Congress of the International Academy of Legal Medicine

The 22nd Congress of the International Academy of Legal Medicine will be held in Istanbul (Turkey) from 5 to 8 July 2012.

The congress will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest doctrinal, scientific, and technological advances in legal medicine and forensic sciences with its workshops, advanced courses, seminars, panels and lectures as well as oral and poster presentations. The most prestigious professionals from the international forensic community will contribute and be a part of this important scientific event.

For details see: http://www.ialm2012.org/

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9th International Course in Forensic Odontology, Oslo, Norway

The International Organisation for Forensic Odonto-Stomatology (IOFOS) and the Nordic Organization for Forensic Odonto-Stomatology (NOFOS) in cooperation with the Institute of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Norway, invite you to a course in personal identification, with special emphasis on dental methods held on 25-30 June 2012 at the Institute of Oral Biology, Domus Odontologica, Rikshospitalet, Gaustad, Oslo Oslo, Norway.

Aim of the course:
• to enable the dentist to perform post mortem dental examination and comparison between  ante-mortem and post mortem information in single cases as well as in mass disasters
• to enable the dentist to participate in the reconstruction of the identity of a person when comparative identification is not possible
• to enable the dentist to participate in a DVI team after a mass disaster
• to introduce computerized identification programmes

http://iofos.eu/Coming%20eventsnew/Brochure%20IOFOS%20kursus%202012.pdf

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18th Nordic Conference on Forensic Medicine

It is a great pleasure for The Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health, Aarhus University and the Danish Society of Forensic Medicine to invite you to participate in the 18^th Nordic Conference on Forensic Medicine, which will takes place in Aarhus, Denmark, on 13-16 June, 2012.

The theme of the Conference is “New Techniques and Progress in Forensic Medicine”. It will cover a variety of different topics in Forensic Medicine with internationally renowned experts with in the field giving lectures.
Furthermore we intend to offer preconference workshops on topics as Education, Disaster Victim Identification, Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Epidemiology.

For details see: http://retsmedicin.au.dk/nordic-conference-2012/welcome/

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EAFSC Forensic Science Conference 20-24 August 2012

The Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) takes pride in announcing that the 6th European Academy of Forensic Science Conference will be held in The Hague, the International City of Peace and Justice, from 20 to 24 August 2012. The title of the conference reflects the momentum of forensic sciences: Towards Forensic Science 2.0.

For details:  http://www.eafs2012.eu/home.html

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Decomposing bodies pile up; casualties hit 823

As the body count rose to 823 late yesterday, authorities expect that the casualties from flash floods that devastated two port cities in Mindanao spawned by Typhoon Sendong will continue to pile up in the coming days as officials said more are missing than reported since entire families were believed swept to sea as they slept in coastal slums.

Towns in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities which were worst hit by the devastation prepared mass burials for decomposing bodies with authorities saying unclaimed cadavers piling up in mortuaries were posing health risks and had to be buried.

Several television footage showed decomposing bodies lined up in different centers where the dead were delivered for identification, underlining the serious tragedy that some of the survivors compared to the recent tsunami that hit parts of northern Japan last March. One footage from an Iligan mortuary showed a
corridor lined with bodies wrapped in white plastic bags bound with tan-colored packaging tape.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported Monday afternoon that bodies of 823victims were thus far recovered.NDRRMC executive director Benito Ramos said most of the fatalities were from Region 10. He said many of the bodies found were already decomposing. Ramos added his agency had lost count of the number of missing people. He called to the public for donations of food, clothing and blankets for people now staying in temporary shelters. Burials were expected to take place starting Tuesday, local officials said.

The disaster area is normally bypassed by typhoons that ravage other parts of the country every year.
Teresita Badiang, an engineer at the Iligan mayor’s office, said the city had begun constructing two concrete communal tombs where cadavers would be placed side by side “so that their burial will be dignified.”
The disaster council said at least 227 people died in Iligan.

In Cagayan de Oro, where the disaster council placed the death toll at 336, Mayor Vicente Emano said a mass burial would be held within the week but aides said the exact location had not been finalised.
Dr Jaime Bernadas, the department of health’s director for the region, said cadavers were still being processed prior to “temporary burial” in the city.

Health officials were taking DNA samples and photographs of victims. “We are giving time for relatives to claim (the bodies),” he said.

About 47,000 evacuees are now huddled in evacuation centres in Washi’s wake, mostly in the northern coast of Mindanao, a vast poverty-stricken island troubled for decades by a Muslim separatist insurgency.
Dr Eric Tayag, head of the national epidemiology center and Department of Health (DoH) spokesman, said the government was taking steps to prevent outbreaks of cholera, dysentery, dengue and respiratory problems particularly in congested evacuation centres.

“Around 10 days after this flooding there might be an epidemic of water-borne diseases,” Tayag warned on television.Philippine Red Cross chief Gwendolyn Pang said strict guidelines had to be followed in mass burials, including photographing corpses, listing identifying marks and laying them a meter apart for possible exhumation. “I’m sure their families will look for them,” she said. President Aquino is set to visit the stricken zone today after ordering a review of the country’s disaster defenses.

Ramos, the government’s disaster agency chief, said most of the victims were “informal settlers” — a term typically used for slum squatters who are often unregistered by authorities.

Authorities likened tropical storm Sendong to Ondoy, one of the country’s most devastating storms which dumped huge amounts of rain on Manila and other parts of the country in 2009, killing more than 460 people.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), for its part, vowed the fast-track release of P1.297 billion calamity fund to help victims of the tropical storm that ravaged Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and several areas in Mindanao.

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said “the government is generously equipped to mobilize and support disaster relief efforts in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and other Sendong-affected areas.”
“We are ensuring the quick release of these funds so that victims will receive swift and proper assistance,” he said.  Abad also said that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of National Defense (DND), and the Department of Education (DepEd) “are also adequately supported by separate Quick Response Funds (QRFs), which will guarantee direct and immediate support to Sendong-stricken areas.”

“In addition to the Calamity Fund and the QRFs, we also have the Local Government Support Fund shares of all affected local government units, for whom President Aquino will provide Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) and Notices of Allocation (NCAs) tomorrow,” he said.

Abad said “if additional disaster-response funds are required, the Administration has sufficient reserves to augment the Calamity Fund and QRFs to expedite relief operations to all affected areas and communities.”
Relatively, Abad said that for next year the calamity fund was increased by P2.5 billion to P7.5 billion relative to this year’s budget.

The governments of France , United Kingdom and Japan joined the growing international outpouring of support and sympathies for the victims and survivors of the deadly storm that battered Mindanao and some part of Visayas over the weekend and feared to have killed at least 1,000 people.

Philippine government officials on Monday said the death toll is nearing 700 as more bodies are being retrieved two days after tropical storm Sendong dumped heavy rains Friday to Saturday, causing rivers to overflow that inundated many villages and destroyed vital infrastructures.

Earlier, the United States and China extended their condolences and pledged assistance to Manila ’s relief efforts. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also sent a 15-man team on a weeklong assignment to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan to help identify bodies through photographs, fingerprints, dental records and DNA tests on tissue samples.

An NBI Disaster Victim Identification team based in Cagayan de Oro has already identified 203 out of 249 bodies recovered in Cagayan de Oro, as of Dec. 18, 6 p.m.

“We have to identify first the bodies. We might as well do it now because if not, we might have to exhume them again,” said NBI deputy director for technical services Reynaldo Esmeralda said.
NBI-Medico-Legal team Division Chief Dr. Alvin David said he has sent a 15-man team belonging to the agency’s Disaster Victim Identification Team (DVIT) to help Cagayan De Oro authorities identify hundreds of corpses.

David explained that they will be conducting specimen harvesting test coming from the bodies of the dead victim to get DNA samples coming from the bone, leg muscles and liver tissue.
Members of the House of Representatives crossed partylines yesterday to help victims of typhoon Sendong in Mindanao.

Led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, the 285-strong Lower House came up with a resolution that they would contribute P20,000 each from their salaries and another P1-million each from their priority development assistance fund to help the typhoon victims. “The situation needs an immediate national response. We have decided to give our all-out efforts, not just as an institution but as individuals,” Belmonte said in a press conference yesterday at the House media center. The Speaker also revealed that like Cagayan Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and the other lawmaker from the hard hit areas in Mindanao and the Visayas, he was in touch with Aquino early the day after the catastrophe. “The President is on top of the whole thing. He has mobilized the different agencies of government to help the areas affected,” Belmonte said as he continued to coordinate with the various political parties in the House of Representatives on ways to rebuild the areas affected. The Speaker said that the cash donations will be distributed not only to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities but also to other areas hit by the storm and the subsequent flooding that resulted in the death of hundreds of residents and is still causing damage to private and public infrastructure.

Likewise, the Speaker said that in the long term, he is leading a move to convince each member of the House to give P1-million each from their respective Priority Development Assistance Funds reserved for hard projects to be used in the rehabilitation of public infrastructure in the devastated areas.

Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay was among the first to respond from the opposition bloc in the House even as she urged Filipinos to mobilize themselves into action and help the victims of typhoon Sendong.

“What happened was truly a tragedy especially this close to Christmas. My prayers go out to those who have lost their homes and their loved ones in the floods,” she said as she expressed faith in the resilience of Filipinos and their strength in times of disasters.

Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, for his part, urged the government to enroll those who have lost homes to typhoon Sendong in its P40-billion Conditional Cash Transfer program as it is the best source of long-term aid for the victims.

He said Sendong victims exceed the official definition of what a poor is that would qualify them for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, CCT’s official name.They need not be identified via the DWSD’s household targeting system.

Sen. Edgardo J. Angara expressed deep sympathy for the victims of the devastation.
“We mourn with those who lost their loved ones in the floods and extend all the help we can muster,” said Angara who also lamented that “this isn’t the first time we faced such a tragedy. The costs are too high for us not to use what we have learned from past experiences in better preparing ourselves for future typhoons.”
The Chair of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) noted reports that a joint weather monitoring mission between the US and Japan predicted that ‘Sendong’ would usher heavy rains similar to ‘Ondoy’ (International Name: Ketsana).

Analyzing satellite data gathered on ‘Sendong,’ the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) saw heavy rain falling at around 50 mm per hour. Rains from ‘Ondoy’ fell on Metro Manila at 56.83 mm per hour in September 2009.

In contrast, the national weather bureau Pagasaestimated only 10-25 mm per hour of rainfall from ‘Sendong’.
“Clearly, we still need to improve our disaster management and risk reduction systems,” said Angara. “Government must push for concerted effort not only in improving our forecasting technologies but also in seeking the help of other nations, whenever we lack the infrastructure and expertise.”

Vice President Jejomar Binay also appealed for aid for victims of flashfloods brought about by Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro (CDO) City and Iligan City. Binay said any kind of relief assistance would greatly help the victims. “Our kababayans in CDO and Iligan are in dire need of our help. Donations, whether in cash or in kind, would go a long way towards easing their suffering,” he said. Binay said that Christmas is the season of giving and hoped that the spirit of the holiday season “touch would touch generous hearts to help those in need.” He also asked for prayers for those who died in the floods.

The Vice President flew to CDO early yesterday morning and personally distributed 2,880 bags of relief goods to Kagay-anons staying at the evacuation centers in Macasandig, City Central Elementary School and West City Elementary School.

He also went to funeral homes and extended cash assistance and his condolences to families who lost their loved ones in the wake of the massive floods.

Meanwhile, Binay ordered the Office of the Vice President distribute 5,000 bags of relief goods to victims in Iligan City; 5,000 to Dumaguete City; and another 10,000 bags to CDO. “The relief goods will be available on Dec. 22nd,” Binay said.

Gerry Baldo, Pat C. Santos, Michaela P. del Callar, AFP
12/20/11

http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111220hed1.html

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2,383 disaster victims identified by DNA analysis: surve

SENDAI (Kyodo) -- A total of 2,383 victims or about 15 percent of people who died in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures have been identified by DNA analysis, a survey by the National Police Agency showed Thursday.

Amid difficulties in identifying the victims as they were mostly people who died in the tsunami and many bodies were found after a lengthy period, police have collected DNA samples from more than 7,000 family members of missing victims and built a database.

According to the NPA, the number of victims found in the three hardest-hit prefectures in northeastern Japan totaled 15,773 as of Dec. 11 and 15,104 of them were identified. Of the 2,383 victims identified by DNA analysis, 2,245 were identified with help by physicality, teeth marks and belongings such as driver's licenses, while the other 138 were identified only by DNA analysis with their hair or other tissues remaining, the agency said.

With about 500 medical examiners and other officers sent from across the country to disaster-hit regions at the peak, about 1,500 officers worked to identify the victims.Police in the three prefectures also posted physicality, belongings and other information on unidentified victims on their websites, while police stations displayed the victims' photos taken in morgues to enable people to view them.

Nearly 10 months have passed since the disaster, but the three prefectural police departments plan to continue their search for the missing.

In Fukushima Prefecture, police conducted a search Thursday in the town of Namie from where residents are still mostly evacuated due to the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

As 669 victims have yet to be identified, a Miyagi prefectural police official said while DNA analysis of such a large number of people is unusual, they would make efforts to identify more victims in order to return remains to their families.

(Mainichi Japan) December 30, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111230p2g00m0dm015000c.html

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Phuket's Tsunami Legacy: Local Policeman Given Nameless Bodies

By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian 

Thursday, December 22, 2011

PHUKET: What would you do if you were given almost 400 nameless bodies?


That's the problem for a police officer in a town north of Phuket as he is left with what remains of an international tsunami victim identification project that was once acclaimed around the world.

''Now that they've spent the money, they've given the project to me,'' said Superintendent Colonel Taratcha Tamspat, chief of police in Takuapa, a coastal centre in the neighboring province of Phang Nga.

The Thai Tsunami Victim Identification unit once involved police and forensic experts from around the world in the largest and most successful project of its kind, giving names back to the thousands of tourists and Thais who were killed by the tsunami on Phuket and along the Andaman coast on December 26, 2004.

Now, it appears, the epic project has drawn to a close with the all-Thai vestiges of the endeavor dispensing with data and more than 380 bodies to a local policeman who has little idea about the grand international mission.

It was left to Phuketwan to remind Colonel Taratcha that the seventh anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, Thailand's greatest natural disaster, falls next Monday.

''I didn't know,'' the colonel said. ''I have been in this job in Phang Nga for less than a year.''

The colonel remains perplexed at being given the bodies and the information connected to the project without so much as a briefing.

''The people at the TTVI gave us the information in boxes, without a clue as to what it is all about,'' he said. ''We don't have skills or equipment. We don't know much about what went on.''

The bodies, the remains of the as-yet-unnamed victims of the tsunami, are all in a cemetery in the village of Bang Maruan, a few kilometres south of Takuapa. Each body is in a metal coffin, and each coffin is encased in a concrete tomb, in case further DNA samples are needed one day.

The graveyard, with a metal plaque at the gates listing the 39 nations involved in the epic forensic project, has often been left overgrown with weeds in the care of the TTVI.

What really irks Colonel Taratcha is that the handover also included a large electricity bill. For years, some bodies that were to be handed back to relatives were stored above-ground in cooled sea shipping containers.

''We don't have funding to pay for the electricity used by the TTVI so we will have to pay off the bill a little at a time,'' Colonel Taratcha said.

Two bodies were returned to relatives just this year, the colonel said, one to a family in Petchabun province and the other to local relatives in Takuapa.

The bodies of 24 identified Burmese are still being held because authorities in Burma (Myanmar) have never assisted with contacting their relatives.

About 5400 people, almost equally Thais and from other countries, perished when the tsunami swept in. Some were easily identified in the days immediately after the big wave but the remainder could not be given names.

Rather than bury the dead without identification, the international community decided to give them names and sent scores of police, dentists and forensic scientists to Phuket and the Andaman coast.

A total of 3279 people were identified and returned as part of the remarkable international process.

With international funding, the cemetery and two substantial buildings were constructed in the hope that identifications would continue.

As the international groups withdrew, interest in the process waned and the prospects of giving someone a name with 99.9 percent certainty diminished.

But the colonel does have some good news.

''We have cleaned up the cemetery and the local Public Health department unit would like to use the buildings as part of their drug rehabilitation program,'' he said.

While a memorial service at the tsunami victims' cemetery seems unlikely this year, the anniversary will be marked nearby in the village of Nam Khem and at the patrol boat that was washed two kilometres inland in Khao Lak.

On Phuket, memorial services will be held at Patong, Kamala and at the Mai Khao tsunami memorial wall.

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/phukets-tsunami-legacy-local-policeman-given-nameless-bodies-15209/

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