Mortuary operations following mass fatality natural disasters: a review

Abstract

This is a critical review to discuss the best practice approaches to mortuary operations in preparation for and the response to natural, mass fatality, disaster events, as identified by a review of published articles. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) Statement guided the identification of potential articles to use in this critical review. Subsequent searches were also conducted to identify articles relating to heat wave, and flood mortality. All identified peer-reviewed studies published in English which discussed the preparation and response of mortuaries to mass fatality natural disasters occurring in developed countries were included. Using the PRISMA-P method of identifying articles, 18 articles were selected for inclusion in this review. Although there are numerous articles which describe the mortuary response to mass fatality incidents, few articles analyzed the response, or discussed the roles which supported and enabled the organization to undertake the task of identifying disaster victims. It is thus difficult to determine objectively if the actions and activities outlined in the articles represent best-practice.

“We've Cared for the Dead since We Started Caring”: COVID‐19 and Our Relationship to Public and Private Deathcare

“…Contingency and survival planning are vital (Sadiq ), so public administrators can turn toward best practices captured in scholarship outside the discipline . Anderson et al () reviewed the literature about mortuary operations during a disaster to identify the chief concerns related to death and mass casualty events. Major considerations include body storage, location of deceased, transportation of bodies between facilities, and security, to name a few.…”

Death care during the COVID-19 pandemic: understanding the public health risks

“…Refrigeration temperatures between 2 and 4°C are identified as the most appropriate by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) (Cordner et al, 2016). Storage locations can include conventional facilities such as morgues or less conventional holding areas such as cold storage warehouses, hangars, refrigerated trucks or rail cars, refrigerated shipping containers, hockey or curling rinks, or other novel cooling or racking systems (Anderson et al, 2017;Cordner et al, 2016;Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, 2020). For each of these options, power requirements should be assessed to ensure ample power supply can be maintained and there are contingencies in place for loss of power (Anderson et al, 2017).…”

“…Storage locations can include conventional facilities such as morgues or less conventional holding areas such as cold storage warehouses, hangars, refrigerated trucks or rail cars, refrigerated shipping containers, hockey or curling rinks, or other novel cooling or racking systems (Anderson et al, 2017;Cordner et al, 2016;Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, 2020). For each of these options, power requirements should be assessed to ensure ample power supply can be maintained and there are contingencies in place for loss of power (Anderson et al, 2017). Consideration should be made of how feasible it is to return these temporary facilities to their original use after being used for the storage of bodies.…”

The role of forensic anthropology in disaster victim identification (DVI): recent developments and future prospects

“…Raised awareness of the DVI process can be expanded in a number of ways including the provision of short courses within university degrees. Outside of these institutions practical training is also important to ensure an understanding of their role at the disaster mortuary or the scene [43,45,47,95,98,126,127]. In addition to understanding their own role, it is vital for forensic anthropologists to have an understanding of the roles of the other staff that they will be working alongside.…”