Humanitarian Logistics of Human Remains of Disasters

Abstract

“Humanitarian logistics is the processes and systems involved in mobilizing people, resources, skills, and knowledge to help vulnerable people affected by disaster.” Vulnerable people affected by disaster include family members and community of the deceased in the aftermath of a disaster. After a mass fatality disaster, if the human remains are not recovered, not preserved, not communicated to the community, not identified, and/or not dispositioned according to the tradition, culture, and religious practices, it leaves a Zeigarnik effect on the community and the surviving family members. A Zeigarnik effect is the unfinished closure that haunts the affected people. Another effect is the posttraumatic stress disorder that affects the well-being of the survivors. This paper covers humanitarian logistics of human remains of disasters. In this paper humanitarian logistics is defined as recovery of human remains, preservation of human remains, communication about human remains, identification of human remains, and disposition of human remains after a disaster involving mass fatalities.