DVI News 7 March 2011
06/Mar/2011
Christchurch earthquake: DNA sought to identify victims27 February 2011.
Families awaiting news on the Christchurch earthquake are receiving calls from disaster victim identification teams, asking them to bring in toothbrushes and hairbrushes and anything else that may help formally identify their loved ones.
A police spokesman said yesterday that 166 disaster victim identification (DVI) staff were working in shifts to formally identify victims of the 6.3-magnitude quake.
But he said that number would be boosted as more teams arrived to assist DVI officers who are working around the clock in rotating shifts.
Putting names to victims is a painstaking and grisly process.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/
NT sends victim identification experts to NZ
28 February 2011.
Four disaster victim identification police from the Northern Territory will travel to Christchurch to help identify the bodies of people killed in last week's earthquake.
Thirty Australian police are going to New Zealand to assist with the formal identification process.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/
PM urges police to name Christchurch earthquake victims
1 March 2011.
The slow progress in making public the names of those killed in the earthquake is "farcical", Prime Minister John Key says.
The confirmed death toll was 148 last night, eight of whom have been named officially by police. Media have named many more.
Mr Key said yesterday that he did not want to criticise, but the situation was a bit farcical and he had raised it with police several times.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-
Talks on making names of the missing public
1 March 2011.
The Government is talking to the police about whether the names of those listed as missing in Christchurch could be made public.
As of Tuesday morning, nearly a week since the earthquake, 154 people are confirmed dead and about 50 are listed as missing.
Prime Minister John Key says talks were held on Monday about resolving the names issue.
He says it can be farcical when families are talking to media about the loss of their loved ones but they cannot be named yet.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/
Final death toll expected to be 240
1 March 2011.
Police say the death toll in the Christchurch earthquake is expected to reach 240.
The confirmed toll is currently 155 but this is expected to increase further.
Superintendent Dave Cliff said this morning: "The number is fluctuating, but the figure of around 240 is solidying.
"I think we need to start considering the figure of around 240, but that is not locked in stone."
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-
Additional UK Experts Arrive in NZ
1 March 2011.
Two highly experienced UK disaster victim identification (DVI) experts arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, yesterday to help with the hard work of identifying victims of the devastating earthquake in the city last week.
The team will be supplemented by a further 8 DVI experts arriving into Christchurch airport from the UK tomorrow afternoon.
Made up of an Odontologist, a fingerprint specialist, a photographer, a pathologist, advanced DVI experts and DVI collators, the team is led by Commander Nick Bracken from the UK Metropolitan police.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/
Expert police resources to assist New Zealand
1 March 2011.
Tasmania Police will contribute further resources to assist New Zealand in the Christchurch earthquake recovery effort.
The New Zealand Police Force has made a request for urgent assistance with the process of identifying the remains of earthquake victims.
A team of four Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) specialists from Tasmania Police will leave for Christchurch today.
“There is an urgent need for specialists in this area as more earthquake victims are expected to be retrieved from collapsed buildings in Christchurch.
“The specialised DVI training undertaken by these officers has prepared them to deal with the difficult process ahead.”
http://www.media.tas.gov.au/
New Zealand earthquake Operation Monro
1 March 2011.
Two psychologists will today join the team of NSW Police Force officers in New Zealand for the earthquake recovery operation.
The team of 122 officers, who form ‘Operation Monro’, was sent to Christchurch last Friday to help their New Zealand counterparts uphold public safety during the recovery effort.
Twelve Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) officers are part of the contingent and are working with experts from around the world in the grim task of identifying the dead.
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/
Singapore sends forensic experts to Christchurch
2 March 2011.
THE New Zealand authorities have accepted Singapore's offer of a five-man Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team to assist in forensic work to identify victims killed in the Christchurch earthquake.
Led by Commander SAF Military Medicine Institute Colonel (Dr) Tan Peng Hui, an experienced forensic dentist, the Disaster Victim Identification team will be helping the New Zealand Police and local authorities in the examination and processing of human remains of the earthquake victims
http://www.straitstimes.com/
No formal Israeli search offer, says McCully
2 March 2011.
Prime Minister John Key has spoken to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu after claims an Israeli search and rescue team was refused entry to Christchurch's inner-city cordon.
Earlier today, the Government rejected Israeli media reports that Wellington refused Israel's offer to send a search and rescue team to Christchurch after the earthquake.
Key said this afternoon the Israelis were not part of a United Nations-accredited team.
Israel had offered specialist Disaster Victim Identification personnel and the offer was accepted and they arrived on Monday.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Thai DVI team arrives to assist in identifying Christchurch quake victims
2 March 2011.
A Disaster Victim Identification unit from Thailand has arrived to assist their New Zealand and overseas colleagues in the identifying of bodies recovered from various sites following last week's 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch.
Speaking from outside the CTV building Commissioner of the Thai Scientific Crime Detection Division, Police Lieutenant-General Jarumporn Suramanee, said a team of DVI specialists, fingerprint officers and a dentist had arrived to assist in the operation.
They will join specialists already involved in the operation from New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, Israel and Taiwan who are continuing the formal identification process of victims at the temporary mortuary facility at Burnham Camp.
"We have worked with New Zealand DVI teams in Thailand following the Tsunami and we are very pleased to be able to assist our friends in their hour of need.”
http://www.police.govt.nz/
Christchurch earthquake: Injuries shock teams struggling to identify bodies
3 March 2011.
None of the earthquake victims at the temporary morgue at Burnham Military Camp have been identified by their families and most have suffered terrible injuries.
The extent of their injuries has shocked specialist disaster victim identification teams which worked at the Australian bushfires and the Boxing Day tsunami.
The head of the New Zealand Disaster Victim Identification team, Inspector Mike Wright, said staff were battling to return victims to their families as fast as possible.
Most victims from the CBD suffered crush injuries, which was making the job impossible without DNA samples, dental records and fingerprints.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/
Earthquake identification process much harder at home
3 March 2011.
Helping identify local quake victims is a "dreadful" contrast to overseas disaster work, a Wellington dentist says.
A member of New Zealand's national disaster victim identification team and national forensic dentistry adviser to the police, Hugh Trengrove is co-ordinating the group of dentists involved in the painstaking, grim task of putting names to the bodies pulled from the rubble.
For many of them, including Dr Trengrove, the Christchurch earthquake is the third regional disaster they have been called to in recent years.
New Zealand forensic dental teams were sent to Thailand and Indonesia following the Boxing Day tsunami, and to Australia after the catastrophic 2009 bushfires in Victoria.
Despite their experience, it was "very different" to be doing such work in New Zealand, Dr Trengrove said.
There were 14 New Zealand dentists working on victim identification by yesterday, along with three dentists from Singapore, Thailand and Israel. British and Australian dentists were on their way.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Identifying the dead is exhausting process
3 March 2011.
POLICE know it is causing an agonising wait, but they are adamant the lengthy forensic process of matching remains of the dead to clues left by the missing has to be endured.
The earthquake's first four victims were named two days after the event, but for other families the wait is much longer. Superintendent Dave Cliff has insisted police want to reunite families with loved ones as fast as possible, but not at the expense of getting it wrong.
A team of 210, including people from Thailand, Israel, Britain and police from all nine Australian jurisdictions, is helping to match the 159 confirmed dead so far to the list of about 240 missing.
Superintendent Mark Sweeney is the commander of the crime scene services division of NSW Police. He arrived yesterday to help police in Christchurch ensure that significantly injured victims were identified and returned to families as quickly as possible, but in accordance with coronial standards.
He said the major challenge of any disaster was recovering bodies during the inevitable chaotic aftermath. ''All planning goes out the door … From the perspective I come from, they are doing it very well. We've built a process that is stable and resilient.''
At 8am yesterday, New Zealand police were relieved from mortuary duty and Victorian police began the work.
''It's just about now that the local response of Christchurch is exhausted,'' Superintendent Sweeney said. Their Australian counterparts would be ''run into the ground'' before they returned home.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/
Investigators won't rush to name victims
3 March 2011.
An international disaster investigator says accuracy will not be compromised for speed when it comes to releasing names of earthquake victims.
The call came from Commander Nick Bracken of New Scotland Yard as he greeted a further eight senior disaster victim identification (DVI) specialists who flew in from England yesterday.
"One mistaken identity can cast doubt in the minds of everyone," Mr Bracken said. "We saw it after the 2004 Thailand tsunami and in 1997 following the Luxor massacre in Egypt where 12 bodies were repatriated to the UK when they were in fact Swiss nationals – we cannot let that happen."
But the rate of progress in making public the names of those killed in the earthquake has been criticised by many, including Prime Minister John Key who this week described the timing as "farcical".
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
China sends specialists to New Zealand to help identify quake victims
3 March 2011.
China's Ministry of Public Security has dispatched a team of specialists to New Zealand to help identify the bodies of Christchurch earthquake victims, the ministry said Wednesday.
The team of five Chinese forensic specialists and DNA technology experts left Beijing Wednesday afternoon, the ministry said.
The team was sent at the request of the New Zealand police, the ministry said
http://english.peopledaily.
Family liaison officers motivated to get job done accurately and in a timely fashion
4 March 2011.
When feeling tired or despondent officers working in the Christchurch Quake victims' Family Liaison unit need only to look to across their office for some inspiration.
Up on the wall the officers, who have come from all over the country to help in the rebuilding, have put up photos of all the people they are working to return home to loved ones.
Senior Sergeant Vicki Allen of Whangerei said staff were very conscious each of the photos represented not deceased persons but people they were returning home to their loved ones and families.
Vicki said the key objective for everyone involved was the need for accuracy and for that reason the formal identification process may appear complex but mistakes are not acceptable.
http://www.police.govt.nz/
Dunedin police contingent left with haunting images
4 March 2011.
Classical music emanating from a collapsed cafe is just one of the haunting images of the Christchurch earthquake that will remain with Dunedin policeman Inspector Alastair Dickie.
The contingent commander for the 60 Southern district police staff sent to the quake-struck city last week said Christchurch was a "sobering experience".
Staff were deployed on 12 to 14-hour night shifts to lock down the CBD, provide site security for the Canterbury Television (CTV) and Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC) buildings, or patrol for looters and to "listen out for trapped people".
Others worked with disaster victim identification (DVI), and the Dunedin Search and Rescue squad assisted the USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) teams.
He was impressed by the professionalism of the overseas emergency services personnel, USAR and DVI teams.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/
Six more Christchurch earthquake victims named
5 March 2011.
Six more names have been added to the list of victims of the Christchurch earthquake.
This afternoon police released the names of Melanie Jane Brown, 54, Christopher Grant
Earlier today superintendent Sam Hoyle said a further 38 bodies had been identified and the victims' families had been told.
The death toll was lifted by two to 165 today, but searchers have concluded that there are no bodies inside the collapsed Christchurch Cathedral.
Despite the good news out of the cathedral, the official quake toll rose overnight to 165 with the recovery of two further bodies from the destroyed CTV building.
It had been expected that the total toll would rise to over 200, but police say this number is "highly likely" to come down after the cathedral search.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-
Sifting through the remains
5 March 2011.
Four Queensland police forensic specialists helping in the difficult task of examining human remains in earthquake shattered Christchurch have the skills to match a single wedding ring to the victim of a natural disaster.
The police team, specially trained to identify natural disaster victims, has travelled to Christchurch after working to identify victims in Grantham two months ago in the wake of the deadly flash flood.
They are among 28 police officers, including traffic officers and general duties officers, who volunteer to be part of the state's disaster victim identification squad, in addition to their normal policing duties.
The disaster victim identification squad's deputy commander, Inspector Paul Baker, said the officers could be involved in each of the four formal phases of identifying human remains.
The four officers have been in Christchurch for six days and will stay another week to help in the difficult process of identifying victims.
Queensland Health forensic expert Alex Forrest, who helped in the effort to identify victims of the Boxing Day tsunami, said disaster victim identification specialists could never completely comprehend what to expect at the scene.
"Every disaster is unique," he said.
"When we arrive there will always be more people missing than dead ... that makes the task that much harder."
In his line of work, Professor Forrest said there was no room for error.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.
May be months before all quake victims identified
6 March 2011.
It may be months before all the victims of the Christchurch earthquake are identified, police say.
More than 240 staff are working to identify the victims of the February 22 quake, including disaster victim identification (DVI) teams from Australia, the United Kingdom, Thailand and China.
Police have named 26 people who died in the magnitude 6.3 earthquake, and warn that the final death toll will be greater than the 166 bodies found so far
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/
Christchurch earthquake: Agonising wait continues
6 March 2011.
The body of Janet Meller has probably been lying in the morgue at Burnham Military Camp for 11 days - but the partner of the missing osteopath doesn't know for sure.
Dennis Maddever has been told that 70 bodies were taken from the CTV building in the first days after the earthquake. Few have been formally identified.
Meller, 58, worked for The Clinic, a medical practice that had moved premises to the fourth floor of the building just two weeks before the magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit.
Over the past days, Maddever has struggled through his daily tasks without power or water. He has allowed police into the house to take away some of Meller's personal belongings for DNA testing.
But mainly, he has waited.
"I understand the police have an incredible amount of pressure," he said. "That process is an international process which has to be adhered to. We have to accept it."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
DVI NEWS – INTERNATIONAL
Downed Power Line Kills 16 in Brazil
28 February 2011.
At least 16 people were killed and about 50 others injured over the weekend when a power line fell during the Carnival in the Brazilian city of Bandeira do Sul, regional news agencies reported, citing police.
The accident occurred Sunday afternoon in the main plaza in Bandeira do Sul, a city of about 6,000 people in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais
http://laht.com/article.asp?
41 percent of 9/11 families still have no remains
1 March 2011. USA.
They are the staggering numbers that, almost 10 years later, remain as incomprehensible as 9/11 itself.
The families of 1,123 people who died at the World Trade Center – that’s 41 percent of the 2,752 people who perished there – have never received so much as a shred of DNA from their lost loved ones.
Those numbers explain why so many families see the WTC site as a grave, and why the memorial is such a pain-soaked symbol.
A death lacking physical evidence “is an abstraction,” explained psychologist Ken Druck.
Some families see more significance in the landfill, where remains were discovered, and would have preferred a memorial in Staten Island, said Bill Doyle, who is still waiting for DNA of his son, Joey Doyle, a bond supervisor for Cantor Fitzgerald in the North Tower, to be identified.
http://www.amny.com/urbanite-
Mass Grave Uncovered in Mexico, 17 Bodies Found
2 March 2011.
Mexican authorities have uncovered what appears to be a mass grave site with two graves in the town of San Miguel Totolapan, located in the southern state of Guerrero.
The unearthed graves had at least 17 bodies and was discovered sometime yesterday
http://www.
Six women dead in boat capsize
4 March 2011. India.
Six women labourers drowned while seven were rescued when a boat capsized in Tons river in this Uttar Pradesh district on Friday, police said. The accident took place on Friday afternoon, when the boat carrying 13 women labourers -- all natives of Ghazipur district -- lost balance midstream and capsized.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/
26 killed in Brazil Carnival road accident
5 March 2011.
At least 26 people were killed on Saturday in a major accident involving a bus and a truck carrying 37 tons of wooden planks in Santa Catarina, south of Brazil, O Globo newspaper reported.
The accident occurred at 3:30 am local time after a truck overturned and slid into the oncoming lane, colliding head on with a bus carrying 43 passengers who were heading to Carnival celebrations
http://channel6newsonline.com/
20 Cambodians killed in tour bus crash
4 March 2011.
Police say a speeding truck has crashed into a tour bus in southwestern Cambodia, leaving at least 20 dead and eight seriously injured.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/
Eight Die in Peru Traffic Accident
5 March 2011.
Eight people were killed when their vehicle collided head-on with a bus in southern Peru, authorities told Efe on Friday.
The accident took place Thursday afternoon near the town of La Joya in the Arequipa region.
http://www.laht.com/article.
Antonov plane fell apart in mid-air
5 March 2011.
The Antonov 148 plane that crashed to the ground in the Belgorod region south of Moscow Saturday started falling apart in mid-air. The debris are scattered over 3 square kilometres. The crash killed all 6 people on board, 4 Russians and 2 pilots from Myanmar.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/
Eight Dead, Seven Injured in Bus-Truck Collision in Dominican Republic
5 March 2011.
At least eight people died, including a young boy, and seven were injured Saturday in a head-on collision between a truck and a bus on the highway connecting the southern Dominican provinces of Azua and Barahona, officials said.
The other fatalities were six women and a man, who died instantly in the crash near the town of El Numero, some 125 kilometres from Santo Domingo.
None of the dead have been identified.
http://www.laht.com/article.
Police: 40 die in road crashes in Indian mountains
5 March 2011.
An open truck carrying a wedding party and a bus rolled into gorges in India's mountainous north, killing at least 40 people in two separate accidents, police said Thursday.
The trucked flipped over at a curve in the road in Himachal Pradesh state's Chamba district on Wednesday night, said police officer Madhusudan.
Rescuers recovered 33 bodies..
Another seven people were killed in the other nearby accident when their bus plunged into a gorge.
http://www.sify.com/news/
Taiwan pub fire kills 9
6 March 2011.
Nine people were killed and 12 injured in a blaze that gutted a pub in central Taiwan early Sunday, firefighters and police said.
Firemen discovered nine charred bodies in the building.
http://www.channelnewsasia.
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