Practical Session: Victim Identification in Mass Disaster

As we all know, recently in November 2010, mount Merapi erupted, claiming more than 200 innocent souls in Indonesia. Rubbing salt to the wound, the earthquake in Mentawai also caused the loss of more than 400 human lives.

During disaster, the survivors will be taken care by many departments, notably the health department, social department, state and International Red Cross.

However, who is responsible for the unlucky ones who perished in these catastrophic events? Will it be the police? Army? Doctor? Or perhaps the forensic pathologist? How about the victims with unrecognizable faces and bone exposure? How can we identify the poor victims?

All my questions were answered in the Forensic and Medicolegal practical session. During the session, we learned about the death victim identification in mass disaster. To make the class interesting, our doctor said that she wanted to play a game with us.

So, all of us were divided into two groups. The members of the first group were given a pink report each which is the post mortem report while the second group got the yellow reports which contain the ante-mortem information of the victims.

First, we analyzed the report. For example, I got the ante mortem report. So, I need to write down the name, age, gender and other details of the missing person.

Then, we brought the summary of the report to the doctor where she gave us the next clue. For example, I got the result of the blood test and the DNA analysis of the missing person that I had analyzed earlier.

Lastly, I had to compare my result with the other group that held the post mortem reports. In the end, I identified the victim by founding the matching DNA, blood type and medical record. It was an intriguing learning process and I really enjoyed it.

References:

1. Practical Session: Death Victim Identification in Mass Disaster, Dr. Yudha Nurhantari

2. Disaster Victim Identification, Dr. Yudha Nurhantari