Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Just Wondering...

I know there are news stories about the bodies floating around New Orleans.  But, because New Orleans is below sea level, most bodies are not buried underground but in tombs.  How many tombs were destroyed by the flooding?  How many of the bodies are not actually victims of Katrina?  Because water and heat do a lot of damage to bodies, destroying fingerprints and distorting features, how can anyone determine when the body died?  

I have read that some are concerned the bodies will be next-to-impossible to identify, especially since dental records and personnel records, including fingerprints and photos, have been wiped out by the floods.  But how would you identify a person already dead?  If they were embalmed would that make a difference?  Could/should bodies be tested for that?

Just wondering… I haven’t read anything about the conditions of the cemeteries in New Orleans or, indeed, in any of the flood-ravaged areas.