IT’S THE FOURTH MONTH OF THE EPIDEMIC. The news from your shortwave radio announces that the death toll around the world has reached one billion people. You, your family, some neighbors, and close friends have escaped the worst of it by bugging out to a compound of remote cabins deep into the woods. Besides the 28 of you, you haven’t seen a soul since you left the city. Two weeks ago, your neighbor’s teenage son went missing but turned up three days later with symptoms of the epidemic. It spread quickly through his family before they could be isolated. By the next week, they were dead, along with six others. The remaining survivors don’t seem to be infected, but with death comes bacteria, infection, disease. There are 11 bodies slowly decomposing in one of the cabins that need to be dealt with. It’s time to bring out the dead. But how?
WHAT TO EXPECT
Being exposed to human beings who have died of unnatural causes is not a normal part of the human experience. People without access to hospitals and funeral homes have become unaccustomed to the tasks of handling dead bodies. In a survival situation in which death has occurred, you might have to touch the remains of a human, move them and perhaps hear the brittle sounds of Rigor Mortis or of built-up gases escaping. These are not normal situations, and it will take some mental fortification on your part to overcome.
Death isn’t pleasant. It will never be pleasant, and you’ll have to prepare yourself for it. In this situation (and many like it), the bodies you will encounter will most likely be damaged in horrific ways. There will be fluids, smells, sounds and sights that will live with you for a long time. The discovery, removal and burial of these bodies will not be a tidy job, especially if you lack a few of the basic materials, such as gloves, body bags, tarps, etc. Although it might be difficult to restrain your empathy for a once-living person now lying dead before you—especially if he or she was a loved one—there is an important task at hand that must be dealt with quickly and properly. Survival is messy. It is best to get it over with before it gets even messier.
“Death isn’t pleasant. It will never be pleasant, and you’ll have to prepare yourself for it.”
ORGANIZATION
You are about to undertake an unpleasant activity. For a variety of mental and physical reasons, this will be difficult. Preparation is key. The better prepared you are for this, the quicker it will get done and the easier it will be. Ideally, you will have particulate masks, latex gloves, and body bags (or large garbage bags) to deal with the remains. This is why these things should be packed in your emergency bags. If available, have a camera to document the situation, a pen and paper to make notes and to record names, and boxes or envelopes to store personal belongings.
You’ll need to make a plan with the remaining survivors. Graves will need to be dug, personal items collected, names and information recorded. Bodies carried. You can’t do it alone. Delegate responsibility to keep as many people busy as possible and their minds off what is actually happening.
“In this situation (and many like it), the bodies you will encounter will most likely be damaged in horrific ways. There will be fluids, smells, sounds and sights that will live with you for a long time.”
56 million
number of people who die every year worldwide
2.5 million
number of people who die every year in the United States
9
percent of deaths caused by injury
394
average number of natural disasters each year
107,000
average number of people killed each year in natural disasters
53
percent of victims of floods, worldwide
143 billion
average annual cost of natural disasters (in dollars)
RECOVERY
There is a huge psychological burden on the survivors whenever dead bodies are left in view. Survivor’s guilt plays a huge role in a post-catastrophe situation, so removing the bodies as quickly as possible should be your number-one goal after medical aid has been provided to the injured and the safety of the rest has been ensured.
Organize search-and-rescue teams if need be: one team to locate the bodies and another to transport them to the identification/burial site. Ask questions of those who survived: Who is missing? What are their names? Where were they last seen? What were they wearing? Try to make an accurate list of potential victims and where they might be. Masks, work gloves, heavy boots, latex gloves and tools might be needed to locate the bodies. Protect yourself from touching the bodies, and wash any exposed skin if you do. You might also come across pieces of bodies that will need to be dealt with, and you shouldn’t spend time trying to match up the parts with the owners.
When you find a body, it is best to place it in a body bag or wrap it in a tarp or sheet. This mentally distances yourself from the physical act of moving a dead body, especially if you are already traumatized by the event that killed the person to begin with. Additionally, a body bag keeps all the personal effects in one place. Use gloves and avoid touching the dead body. If you have to, make sure to wash your hands well afterward.
Take note of the location and time that the body was found. If possible, take pictures for the next step: identification.
IDENTIFICATION
It is important to keep accurate records of the bodies you have recovered. Hopefully, the emergency situation will be resolved soon, and when it does, loved ones and the government will want to know the circumstances of the burial. There are legal ramifications involved (taxes, inheritance, insurance), Additionally, the bodies will need to be interred and reburied properly in an official cemetery.
The sooner you are able to identify the bodies, the quicker they can be buried (or sent to a cold storage facility).
Reference number: Start by assigning a unique identifying number to each body and to each found body part. The numbers should be sequential and should not repeat. Treat body parts like individual bodies and give them a unique number, because they can be used to identify a person if the whole body cannot be found.
Label: The number should be written on waterproof paper or sealed in a small plastic bag and either attached to the body or kept in its container (body bag, tarp, etc.). Make note of the number as it associates to a body, and then include any information you have about where it was found and who it might be.
Photographs: If possible, take a series of good-quality photographs of the bodies. Include in all pictures the identifying number associated with each body. The list of photographs for each body should include the following: a full-length body shot, the whole face (if the face is dirty or bloody, do your best to clean it first), any obvious distinguishing features, all clothing, shoes and personal effects. Are there any tattoos or scars? Take a picture of these, as well.
Record: Gather the body’s personal effects—watches, wallets, purses, jewelry— and place them in an envelope or a box clearly marked with the body’s unique identifying number. Make note of the body’s gender, race, facial features, age range, and marks on the skin (tattoos, etc.). Ideally, it would be good if a copy of this information were kept with the body, but, if not, it is very important to preserve this list for the authorities and next of kin.
Storage: The personal effects should remain with the bodies or stored in a safe and organized manner if the bodies are to be buried immediately. Cold storage of the body immediately after it is discovered will slow the rate of decomposition, thereby preserving the body for future identification and handling by emergency professionals. Do not use dry ice or regular ice, because both are impractical for long-term storage.
DISPOSAL AND BURIAL
Within a short amount of time (12 hours to a day, depending on the climate), a body will begin to decompose. After two days, facial recognition begins to be difficult. The smell will be overpowering, and gases might begin to build up inside the body, which might cause them to burst. If rescue or a remedy to your survival scenario isn’t imminent, you’ll have to dispose of the bodies soon. Keeping a body cold in normal situations is nearly impossible, especially in an emergency in which electricity is nonexistent, so the next best thing is to dig temporary burial sites. The temperature underground is considerably cooler than at the surface, so the bodies will be better preserved there (and out of sight from other survivors) for future examination or investigation.
In selecting a burial site, it should be close to the incident but at least 600 feet from any source of drinking water. Take into consideration the local water table level, the type of soil you’ll have to dig in and the number of graves you will be digging. For fewer than five or six bodies, dig separate graves, but for more than six, it is easier to dig a trench grave. Regardless of which, the grave should be at least 5 feet deep, and there should be 1.5 feet between the bodies. Lay them in one layer only (don’t stack), and clearly mark not only each body, but also the entire gravesite at ground level. If in an area that is teaming with wildlife, it is a good idea to cover the disturbed ground with rocks to keep animals from digging up the bodies.
From an uninformed person’s point of view, death and disease go hand-in-hand: The moment the spirit leaves a body, the body itself somehow becomes infectious, and merely touching it will spread this disease. Perhaps that is a defense mechanism, but those who died as a result of natural disasters do not suddenly carry diseases. This is because victims of natural disasters die from trauma, such as drowning or fire. However, according to the United States Department of Health, “All dead bodies are potentially infectious” and should be treated accordingly.
For example, there is a small risk from tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, HIV and diarrheal diseases. However, the infectious agents responsible for these diseases do not last more than two days in a dead body (except for HIV, which may survive up to six). The Department of Health continues, “Most organisms in the dead body are unlikely to infect healthy persons; some infectious agents may be transmitted when persons are in contact with blood, body fluids or tissues of a dead body of a person with infectious diseases.”
The Department of Health classifies dead bodies into three categories. Category 1 is for those who have died of trauma and accidents/emergencies and who lack any known disease. Category 2 is for those with moderate diseases, such as HIV, hepatitis C, SARS, avian flu, MERS and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Category 3 is reserved for bodies with high infectious diseases, such as anthrax, rabies, viral hemorrhagic fevers and the plague. Equipment needed for each category will vary and builds on the previous one. Category 1: gloves, eye protection, face shield; Category 2: add a water-resistant gown/plastic apron and a surgical mask; Category 3: double gloves and shoe covers. When dealing with dead bodies, it is always smart not to eat or drink in their presence; do not touch your eyes or mouth, and keep any and all wounds covered with waterproof bandages. Wash exposed skin frequently and thoroughly after handling a dead body.
WHAT ABOUT CREMATION?
Avoid cremating a body, if possible. It takes a tremendous amount of heat to break down a human body to its core elements (much less multiple bodies), and you’ll usually end up with a partially incinerated body that you’ll eventually have to bury anyway. Plus, cremation will destroy evidence that might be needed for future identification.
“Within a short amount of time (12 hours to a day, depending on the climate), a body will begin to decompose. After two days, facial recognition begins to be difficult.”
THE FUTURE
When your tribulation has ended, and after the choppers lift you to safety, contact the person in charge and hand them the list of bodies you buried, the pictures you might have taken and any/all information related to what you had done. You’ll be weary, traumatized and perhaps emotionally compromised, so the sooner you pass along this information, the sooner you can lament the lost, recount your ordeal and get busy rebuilding your own life.
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared in the November 2015 issue of American Survival Guide.