Disaster Victim Identification in the 21st Century - A Us Perspective

A comprehensive examination of all critical aspects of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI)
 
As the frequency of both natural and man-made mass fatality disasters increases worldwide, the establishment of clear standards and best practices within the field of Disaster Victim identification (DVI) is of vital importance. Whereas most countries assign jurisdiction to law enforcement agencies following Interpol guidelines, DVI is the responsibility of the medical examiner and coroner in the United States.
 
Disaster Victim Identification in the 21st Century is the first book of its kind to directly address the needs of DVI practitioners in the United States, covering the full spectrum of DVI from traditional methods such as fingerprints, odontology, and anthropology to advanced DNA identification technology. Approaching DVI from three perspectives--academic, government, and private industry--this comprehensive volume examines the history and current state of the discipline, the ongoing formation of national standards, the various methods of human identification, and the key challenges and future of DVI. In-depth chapters are written by leaders in the field with personal experience in human identification and mass fatality events.
* Provides practitioners with practical guidance on planning and taking part in DVI based on current national standards and best practices
* Discusses continued improvement in both traditional and emerging DVI methods
* Includes non-region-specific case studies and recommendations that can be easily adapted for international use
* Examines ethical and legal considerations in DVI, including suggestions for standardizing the victim identification process
* Describes the critical role of the Victim Information Center (VIC) in providing the comparative information required to go beyond presumptive identifications
 
Part of the American Association for Forensic Sciences (AAFS) series, Disaster Victim Identification in the 21st Century: A US Perspective is an indispensable resource for forensic scientists, disaster planners, policymakers, medical examiners and coroners, law enforcement and emergency personnel, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in forensic sciences and emergency management.

List of contents

About the Editors xv
 
Notes on the Contributors xvii
 
Preface xxi
 
Series Preface xxiii
 
1 Introduction 1
John A Williams and Victor W Weedn
 
1.1 Introduction 1
 
1.2 This Book 3
 
2 Historical Background 7
Victor W Weedn
 
2.1 History of Mass Disasters 7
 
2.2 Early History of Mass Disaster Response 14
 
2.2.1 The Portsmouth Christmas Fires and 1803 Portsmouth Federal Disaster Relief 16
 
2.2.2 The 1835 Great Fire of New York City 16
 
2.2.3 1865 Sultana Explosion 18
 
2.2.4 The 1871 Fires 18
 
2.2.5 American Red Cross (ARC) 19
 
2.2.6 1889 Johnstown Flood 19
 
2.2.7 1899 San Ciriaco Hurricane 20
 
2.2.8 1900 Galveston Storm 20
 
2.2.9 1906 San Francisco Earthquake 21
 
2.2.10 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 21
 
2.2.11 1912 Sinking of Titanic 22
 
2.2.12 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic 22
 
2.2.13 1921-22 Russian (Povolzhye) Famine 23
 
2.2.14 1927 Mississippi River Flood 24
 
2.3 1930s and 1940s Federal Disaster Relief Legislation 24
 
2.3.1 World War II Civilian Preparedness and Emergency Assets 25
 
2.3.2 Post WWII Federal Disaster Relief Legislation 25
 
2.3.3 Civil Defense Act of 1950 (P.L 81-920) 26
 
2.3.4 Federal Disaster Relief Act of 1950 (P.L 81-875) 26
 
2.4 1950s Federal Disaster Relief 28
 
2.5 1960s Beginnings 28
 
2.5.1 1960 Hurricane Donna 29
 
2.5.2 1961 Hurricane Carla 29
 
2.5.3 1962 Ash Wednesday Storm 29
 
2.5.4 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake 30
 
2.5.5 1960s Federal Activism in the Wake of the Alaskan Earthquake 30
 
2.5.6 1965 Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak 30
 
2.5.7 1965 Hurricane Betsy 31
 
2.5.8 Disaster Relief Act of 1966 31
 
2.5.9 1968 National Flood Insurance 31
 
2.5.10 1969 Hurricane Camille 32
 
2.6 Disaster Relief Acts of 1969 and 1970 32
 
2.6.1 1971 San Fernando (Sylmar) Earthquake 32
 
2.6.2 1972 Hurricane Agnes 33
 
2.6.3 1974 Super Outbreak 33
 
2.6.4 Disaster Relief Act Amendments of 1974 33
 
2.7 National Emergencies Act of 1976 34
 
2.8 National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) of 1977 34
 
2.9 1979 Executive Orders 12127 & 12148 - Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 35
 
2.9.1 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) Nuclear Accident 36
 
2.9.2 1980 Mount St Helens Volcanic Eruption 37
 
2.10 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 (The Stafford Act) 37
 
2.10.1 FEMA under President George H W Bush (1989-1993) 38
 
2.10.2 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 38
 
2.10.3 1989 Hurricane Hugo 39
 
2.10.4 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake 39
 
2.11 1992 Federal Response Plan (FRP) 40
 
2.11.1 1992 Hurricane Andrew 40
 
2.11.2 1992 Hurricane Iniki 41
 
2.12 FEMA under President William J Clinton (1993-2001) 41
 
2.12.1 1993 Midwest Floods 42
 
2.12.2 1994 Northridge Earthquake 42
 
2.12.3 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing 42
 
2.13 1996 EMAC 43
 
2.14 FEMA under President George W Bush (2001-2009) 43
 
2.14.1 2001 Al Qaeda 9/11 Terrorist Attacks 44
 
2.15 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 45
 
2.15.1 2005 Hurricane Katrina 47
 
2.16 Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (PKEMRA) 48
 
2.17 2008 National Response Framework (NRF) 49
 
2.18 2011 National Disaster Recovery Framework 50
 
2.18.1 2012 Hurricane Sandy 50
 
2.18.2 Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 (SRIA) 50
 
2.18.3 20

About the author

Edited by
John A Williams is Emeritus Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Western Carolina University. He is a board-certified (D-ABFA retired) forensic anthropologist with more than four decades of experience working with medical examiners, the FBI, and law enforcement agencies across the United States. As a member since 1995 of the Federal agency, DMORT, he has assisted in the identification of mass fatality victims including two airline crashes and the 9/11 terrorist attack. He has served as an instructor at DMORT national trainings. Dr Williams currently chairs the AAFS ASB DVI Consensus Body. Victor W Weedn is a forensic pathologist and attorney and the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland. He is a past President of the AAFS and is on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME). He founded the US military's DNA identification program and directed the Armed Forces Identification Laboratory (AFDIL). In this capacity, he was very involved in identifying service members who died in recent and past conflicts, as well as in the identification efforts of several major civilian aircraft mishaps and of the Branch Davidian conflagration victims. Dr Weedn serves on the NIST OSAC MDI Committee's DVI Task Force and on the ASB DVI Consensus Body.

Product details

• Authors: John A. (Western Carolina University) We Williams
• Assisted by: Douglas H Ubelaker (Editor), Douglas H. Ubelaker (Editor), Victor W Weedn (Editor), Victor W. Weedn (Editor), John A. Williams (Editor), Douglas H. Ubelaker (Editor of the series), Ubelaker Douglas H. (Editor of the series)
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.04.2022
• EAN: 9781119652786
• ISBN: 978-1-119-65278-6
• No. of pages: 416
• Series: Forensic Science in Focus
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Chemistry; Anthropologie, Chemie, Pathologie, Medizin, Anthropology, Pathology, chemistry, Medizinische Anthropologie, Medical Anthropology, Medical Science, Analytische Chemie / Forensik, Forensics, Opferidentifizierung