Management of dead and missing: aftermath tsunami in Galle

Tsunami on 26th December 2004 which affected the entire costal belt of Sri Lanka caused over 30,000 deaths and about 8000 disappearances. The Forensic Unit of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital alone handled over 1100 deaths, of which about 450 unidentified bodies were dispatched for mass burial, after recording external appearances and all other important personal data, which helped us to establish identity of another 120 victims within next 6 weeks. The visiting forensic team from Colombo, arrived on 27th, assisted us in recording details of 1500 victims of "Peraliya" railway incident. Unfortunately, they were only able to record 250 cases due to pressure from the public and political interference. Our approach to management of tsunami victims was based on recovery and identification of injured and deceased persons, immediate medical care, storage of dead bodies my mass embalming, detailed recording of all unidentified bodies and disposal in mass graves.