Procedure of Disaster Victim Identification in Indonesia

Few days after the lab, we had a lecture by Prof. Etty about the procedure of disaster victim identification in Indonesia. There are 5 phase of victim identification which will be conducted by a victim identification team that includes the police, medical doctors, SAR, army and trained volunteer.

The phase 1 is at the scene of disaster. The Interpol (international police) will be searching for bodies, body parts, properties that belong to the victim. Apart from that, they will have to map the area of disaster and label the body. After the documentation is done, they will put the bodies into the body bags and transport them to the hospital.

The setting of phase 2 is the mortuary, usually the hospital’s morgue where the post mortem examination will be done. First, the documentation regarding the bodies, body parts and properties will be done. Then, the external-internal examination and autopsy will be performed by forensic anthropologist.

At the same time, they will have to identify the victim’s race, age, sex and stature. The dental examination can be performed by either the forensic anthropologist or forensic dentist. The samples for DNA examination can be taken from blood or tissues. The upper and lower jaws x ray will also be taken. Lastly, they have to record all postmortem examination data in the pink form.

Then, in phase 3, ante mortem data will be collected from family, friends, doctor and dentists. The medical record will be needed for matching as the primary identification traits while data likes vital sign, specific characters, jewelleries, watch and clothes will be used for matching as the secondary identification traits. All these ante mortem data will be recorded in yellow form.

Reconciliation, which is comparing the ante mortem data and post mortem data, is performed in phase 4. Debate often occurs in this phase as mismatching might happen. Teeth, fingerprint and DNA will be used as primary identification method, while victim property, photography and document will be used as secondary identification method. When all evidence and proofs are matched, the victim is identified.

Last but not least, in phase 5, the body of the victim will be released to the family member, along with the letter of released. Basically, the Disaster Victim Identification team finishes their job and is able to leave after the documents are compiled.

In a nutshell, victim identification in mass disaster is not a simple job. Problems such as enormous number of victims, difficult transportation, post mortem changes and insufficiency inter department coordination complicate the job. Nonetheless, we should always bear in mind that the success indicator of victim identification is not the speed, but the accuracy.

References:

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

2. Disaster Victim Identification, Dr. Yudha Nurhantari

3. Victim Identifications, Prof. drg. Etty Indriati

4. Conceptual Framework of Disaster and Disaster Management