Science News Review

Automated ID System for Mass Disaster Victims

Feb 27 at 12:12am by Aileen

Japanese researchers have developed a New Automated System to identify victims of mass disasters. The type of disasters that usually end up with nothing but dental records for identification (if not DNA)… airplane crashes, suicide bombings, building collapses and such, where the victims come in small pieces, usually charred to a crisp.

The new system is a novel dental x-ray matching system that reduces the real-time input of forensic experts puzzling over parts of jaws and improves the accuracy of the results at the same time. Which is of course ‘good’ for the relatives of those victims waiting for something to bury with full honors in the family plot.

Mass disasters happen in this modern world, both natural and unnatural. Nearly 3,000 people died when terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers in 2001, and the grizzly scenes of bombings in the Middle East are standard daily fare on the news. There are also earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and cyclones that kill hundreds or thousands at a time, not all of them found inside a home where it’s pretty easy to guess who they were.

This new Japanese system can make a positive match in less than 4 seconds. Let’s face it – that’s a lot faster than any of us as next-of-kin could identify a piece of jaw as belonging to someone we’ve known all their lives. And that can be a good thing for those left behind.

Link:
New Automated System IDs Victims of Mass Disasters in Minutes