Identification and Burial Services for Those Who Lost their Lives in the Earthquake
Date of Announcement: 13/02/2023
Announcement Link: https://www.afad.gov.tr/kamuoyu-aciklamasi-basin-duyurusu
On February 8, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (Turkish: Afet ve Acil Durum Yönetimi Bakanlığı, AFAD) issued a public announcement regarding the identification of and burial services for those who have lost their lives in the earthquake.
According to the statement and in order to ensure the fastest identification of those who lost their lives, urgently deliver their bodies to their relatives and ensure uniformity in identification and burial services earthquakes following the earthquake on February 6, 2023 which was felt devastatingly in neighboring provinces:
- Examination procedures for the deceased will be carried out at the Provincial or District Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices where the bodies are located; bodies of the deceased will not be sent to neighboring provinces and districts,
- To ensure that the bodies of the deceased are delivered to the relevant hospital, recovered bodies are to be brought to hospitals in the presence of a health or police officer alongside a report indicating which building and debris the bodies were recovered from and including information on whether the deceased’s relatives or any others who knew the deceased were present,
- In the event that the identity of the deceased cannot be determined through identification by relatives or people who knew them, funeral delivery procedures will only be carried out after identification has been made via forensic-medical examination methods such as DNA, blood samples or fingerprints,
- Burial of bodies of the deceased which are unable be identified and delivered to their relatives within 5 days through personal identification or forensic medicine methods are to be buried in accordance with the relevant religious obligations after DNA, fingerprint samples and photographs have been taken and with the joint evaluation of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office and the Local Administrative Authority, and the location of the grave will be specified and recorded in a report.
According to the statement, within the joint evaluation of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office and the Local Administrative Authority the bodies of the deceased which cannot be identified by relatives/acquaintances through personal identification or forensic medicine methods may be buried after a 24-hour waiting period following the collection of DNA and fingerprint samples and photographs, and in this case the location of the grave is to be recorded in a joint report.