[/floatr]ScoutNews: New Automated System Can ID Disaster Victims in Minutes
In a development that could dramatically cut the time needed to identify victims of mass disasters, Japanese researchers have developed an automated identification system that uses X-rays and image-correcting software to produce fast, accurate matches of dental records. "In the event that a person's body is damaged beyond recognition -- facial features, clothing, personal possessions -- then often a person's teeth are our last chance to identify the victim," explained study lead author Dr. Eiko Kosuge, a dentist, radiologist and lecturer with the department of oral and maxillofacial radiology at Kanagawa Dental College in Japan...Kosuge pointed to the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami disaster and the crash of Japan Air Lines flight 123 in 1985 as two examples of the identification challenges posed by mass disasters. She noted that after the JAL crash, 325 of the 520 victims had to be identified by dental X-rays. In that case, "more than 2,800 doctors, dentists and forensic scientists worked for over three months to identify all of the bodies," she said...The team said the system would be available for use in Japan within a year..."In Japan -- primarily a Buddhist nation -- tradition dictates that we cremate a deceased loved one within a few days to a week at the most," she said. "Imagine the compounded pain of not only losing a loved one but then not being able to perform proper funeral proceedings. When our system is employed, no one will know about us, no one will know about our system. What they will know is -- as sad as it was to lose a loved one -- they were still able to properly perform funeral proceedings"...more...
