LONDON (AlertNet) - Tangled corpses lie where they were dumped following Haiti's earthquake last week, in anonymous heaps outside the capital Port-au-Prince.
At least 50,000 bodies have been dropped off like this, Haitian officials say, at the behest of the overwhelmed authorities, who view mass burials as the most efficient way to dispose of rotting corpses plucked from streets and the rubble of flattened buildings.
Voodoo priests in a nation where funeral rites are among the most sacred have denounced it as an undignified way to handle the dead, taking their objections to President Rene Preval.
Everyone recognises the huge challenges of dealing with the tens of thousands of dead bodies left by the most powerful earthquake to hit the poorest country in the Western hemisphere in 200 years.
But aid workers are concerned that Haitians who are denied the chance to identify and bury their loved ones according to custom will be unable to properly mourn their dead.
This lack of closure may cause additional emotional pain that lasts long after urgent food and medical needs are met, homes are rebuilt and the relief effort ends, experts say.
"Burial rituals are important for coming to terms with the loss," said Kaz de Jong, mental health advisor with the medical group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF).
"Otherwise, there is always -- however irrational -- the thought 'yes, but maybe'. For a long time there can still be some hope," he told AlertNet.
Ute Hofmeister, a forensic expert with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the absence of a body could often haunt families for years to come.
She recalled how survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami set up makeshift memorial shrines where they believed their loved ones had died -- even though, in many cases, the bodies were never recovered.
"The most important thing in the beginning of a crisis is obviously dealing with the living, with the survivors -- through rescue and life-preserving actions," Hofmeister told AlertNet.
"But it's true that afterwards, part of the problem that the living can have is with the dead not being managed correctly."
The ICRC has been so concerned about this that it issued a factsheet pointing out that disposing of bodies without proper identification did more harm than good, while burying several individuals together could traumatise families and communities.
HEALTH THREAT "MYTH"
Hofmeister said ideally the bodies should be taken to a collection point where items of clothing, the location the body was found and anything else that might identify it would be documented.
Lists should be kept to help families search for their relatives later on.
Pan American Health Organization spokesman Daniel Epstein said: "We are making every effort to prevent dumping bodies into mass graves because every family has the right to identify and know the fate of their loved ones, their lost relatives."
As part of its relief efforts, the ICRC has sent a forensic expert to Haiti to help document the dead, as well as body bags and body recovery kits comprising boots, gloves, aprons and tags, Hofmeister said.
Dumping corpses in hastily dug pits without proper rites is seen as desecration in the Caribbean island nation where many believe in zombies -- dead bodies brought back to life by supernatural forces that could persecute the living.
More than half of Haiti's population is believed to practice voodoo, a religion that is a blend of African and Catholic beliefs.
The authorities' rush to dispose of the bodies has been driven by fears they may spread disease -- which the ICRC and Pan American Health Organization say is a myth.
"It is a popular misconception. Almost everybody you talk to thinks that dead bodies spread diseases. They don't. That's scientifically proven. It's the living and poor sanitary conditions that cause disease and epidemics," Hofmeister said.
"The disease factor is not a reason to go and throw bodies into huge pits and burn them. Of course, psychologically, it's a factor, it's very disturbing to have dead bodies lying around the street where they are bloated and they smell horribly," she added.
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