Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management

Crisis and Emergency Management

Newsletter Website
return to mainpage

February 2005                                                                            Volume 8 - Number 1

Tsunami Disaster Updates...

Accounting for the Tsunami Missing

By Jim Moran

The Tsunami of 2005 has created unparalleled challenges in locating missing people and identifying disaster victims. The enormous span of countries hit by the tsunami coupled with the thousands of foreigners who were in the region at the time continues to hamper efforts to account for the missing. Philip Beh, a forensic pathology professor at Hong Kong University, characterizes the efforts of teams in Thailand alone to be the, “largest victim identification event in recent history.”

Recent efforts by officials in Tsunami affected countries have evolved quickly. There are several government-based web sites that offer a host of information and services relating to missing persons including but not limited to: hotlines, articles/information on progress, registration of missing persons databases (including information on where to send identification information/last known whereabouts), and a variety of links to helpful non-profit disaster relief organizations and information posting sites. Affected countries have also established several 24/7 operations centers that have easily obtainable phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

European countries have also sent officials and volunteers to help with the effort. Sweden-- particularly interested in the identification efforts because of the amount of its citizens affected-- has established “temporary embassies” and “contact points” throughout the region in several joint efforts between its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Rescue Service Agency. Sweden-- like other European Countries-- has also provided a host of helpful services via the internet and hotlines.

Early concerns in western countries over reports that foreigners were being buried in unidentified mass graves caused some European countries such as Germany to call for immediate investigations. In the past weeks, however, reports from many Tsunami affected countries on increased organization and effectiveness may have helped stem such concerns.

Although the early use of mass graves is well documented, recent reports on innovative approaches and technologies have gained notice in the press. In Thailand, government spokesmen said that unidentified foreigners were now being stored in refrigerated containers. The Thai government has also stated that Thai disaster victims were now being stored in temporary graves with electronic chips that contain personal information for future identification. On its website— www.mfa.go.th/tsunami/index_en.php —the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced procedures for a DNA identification program.

The Sri Lanka Information Management Centre has also earned praise for innovative searchable databases made available on its web page- www.contanctsrilanka.org/namelist.htm.

This page incorporates extensive travel data gathered from private industry, and references a report that uses triangulation technology to document last cell phone transmissions of visiting tourists in hopes of focusing search efforts.