When All Hell Breaks Loose (62 page)

If you have to wear your shirt for two or three days, take it off and shake it occasionally. If you shake it vigorously in a beam of sunlight, you will witness a small cloud of skin particles waft off the fabric. Clothing that is worn for days on end with no cleaning can cause various skin rashes and problems, and that is in addition to its losing its insulation value and you looking like hell. There is a direct relationship between these skin problems and the "skin dirt" from your body lingering in the dark, humid environment of your clothing.

As we now know, sunlight contains ultraviolet radiation, which, if given enough time and in the right concentration, is used to kill entire legions of waterborne pathogens in order to make nonpotable water potable. These same disinfecting benefits of ultraviolet radiation can also work wonders on the "yuck" within the fabric of your clothing. The more potent the sunlight, the better and faster the following method will work.

1
Gather up dirty articles of clothing (or your sleeping bag, blankets, etc.), turn them inside out, take them outdoors, and vigorously shake out each one.

2
Spread out clothing in full sun, off the ground if possible, on a bush, a fence, a porch, or something else. The more the entire surface area of the fabric is exposed to direct sunlight, the better.

3
If you're tight for time or sunlight or both, flip the article of clothing in the middle of the day. If time is not an issue and you have a few days of good sun, you might leave one side of the clothing exposed for an entire day and flip it in the morning.

4
How much sunlight your wardrobe requires depends on the intensity of the sun in your area, how much time you have, and how fussy you are. A hot summer day here in the Southwest will "clean" a shirt in a few hours. A sun-washed garment will both smell and feel cleaner, as the ultraviolet radiation has cooked many of the critters that revel in your sweat and dead skin cells.

Decisively Dealing with Dead Bodies

Even the best survival plans can fail. One of the most difficult circumstances you may be forced to deal with is the death of a loved one or someone else. Although it takes much courage to do so, especially if the dead person is a family member, you may be required to cowboy up and dispose of the body yourself for a number of reasons during or after a major crisis.

The methodology that goes into dealing with human remains after a mass disaster is staggeringly complex and run by an army of experts from more than a dozen fields. Every effort should be made to contact and wait for the proper authorities to dispose of the body of a loved one or an unknown person. Doing anything with a dead body in this day and age will open you up to unbelievable scrutiny.
Document everything in writing
such as the name of the individual, their age, sex, what they were wearing, and the location and position in which they were found. Estimate the time of death, the cause of death, and any and all circumstances that you feel will help the authorities piece together what happened. If you have access to a camera, take pictures of everything you do. Although no crime was committed, the disturbing of a body will destroy many clues from the "crime scene" as far as investigating authorities are concerned. Be aware that there is an actual series of regulations for removing a body, including inspection of the site, examination of the body, collection of possible evidence, photographing the scene, questioning those who found the body, and much more. When authorities look and ask for this sort of evidence, don't take it personally; it's a boilerplate procedure when dealing with a corpse. The more you document the circumstances surrounding your situation, the greater help you'll be to authorities (and yourself) when the officials show up. If the identity of the body is unknown, think twice before getting involved and be extremely meticulous with your documentation.

The Importance of Having a "Funeral Ceremony"

Regardless of your faith or lack thereof, it's wise to have some sort of funeral ceremony or rite-of-passage ritual upon dealing with a dead body. It will initiate healing and closure, especially if it's a loved one. If time and opportunity allow, basic respect and dignity surrounding the preparation of the body will resonate with the living and have a lasting positive effect upon the morale of your family. Book after book has been written about the delayed emotional trauma experienced by survivors who were forced to deal with distressing events without proper closure and healing. I have attended more than one conscious-dying process of friends who have chosen to die at home surrounded by loved ones. The experience of everyone who was involved in the process was profoundly life-changing. Although this drawn-out ritual is much different than dealing with the sudden death of a family member, the hands-on, heart-open approach of being fully present with the end result of a dead family member is the same.

Throughout the world's history, hundreds of thousands of people have lost loved ones, some killed purposefully right in front of their eyes. These people have had to move on, literally and figuratively, and sometimes very quickly in order to live another day. You are not alone in the experience of having to manage the death of a family member. Your loved one is no longer that body. Prioritize what needs to happen to protect the living from further danger first, deal decisively with the dead body next, and then allow yourself and your family to consciously move through the healing process in whatever way works best for the good of the whole.

Dead Bodies and Disease. . .Fact or Fiction?

In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement saying, "Dead or decayed human bodies do not generally create a serious health hazard, unless they are polluting sources of drinking water with fecal matter, or are infected with plague or typhus, in which case they may be infested with the fleas or lice that spread these diseases." Medical opinions offer that dead bodies are not as dangerous as people think in regard to the spread of disease. The reason given is that after death the body temperature drops rapidly, killing the most resistant viruses and bacteria, thus preventing them from spreading. The dead bodies of both humans and animals that might pose a health risk need certain specific environments for that risk to become manifest. The factors that cause a health risk include the following: the microorganisms that caused the disease need to be able to keep living in the dead host or in the environment after the host dies; the bodies are host to a disease that is common for the area; or the environment supports the spread of the disease, such as the chaos of severed sanitation systems or overcrowded shelters.

There are documented exceptions such as outbreaks of typhus and bubonic plague that can be at least partially contributed to bodies being accessed and the diseases transmitted by flies, mice, rats, etc. Isolated events of cholera, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C have also been reported. Although most of these outbreaks happen in developing countries with less than savory sanitary practices and resources, any modern urban area can quickly be reduced to the same set of variables in a long-term, major disaster. Other diseases can cause a problem as well. The HIV virus has been found still active within a body sixteen days after its death, and tuberculosis is highly contagious. Bodies suspected of having tuberculosis should have a piece of material put over their mouths and be handled in open areas with plenty of ventilation.

Regardless of scant exceptions, evidence supports that death caused by blunt-force trauma, drowning, or other nonepidemic scenarios, whether human-, animal-, or nature-caused, will not result in bodies that spread disease. After all, diseases and putrefaction are caused by different microorganisms. Someone who died without having cholera isn't suddenly going to create the disease when already dead.
The common misconception that all dead bodies spread disease takes the focus and precious resources away from the survivors
. Mass cremations have occurred in other countries after major catastrophes, such as with Hurricane Mitch in 1998, in which extremely limited fuel supplies were used to burn bodies thought to have been spreading disease, at the expense of that fuel being used to disinfect water and provide warmth, light, and transportation. Sometimes, such as happened in Sri Lanka following the December 2004 tsunami, entire "life-giving" hospital wards have been converted into morgues for fear of stopping an impending infection of the living.

The common practice in some countries of mass cremation or burying the dead in mass graves can cause great emotional trauma. Families receive closure when they have a chance to identify the body. Not being able to do so adds to the financial burden as well. In India, bodies must be identified in order for the families to receive monetary compensation. In the United States and other countries, the lack of official notification of a death can delay insurance payments for years.

The risk factors for disease after a disaster that is nonepidemic in nature come primarily from the scope of the disaster and the characteristics of the population regarding the following: the availability of adequate sanitation and potable water, the degree of crowding in shelters, the general health of the population, and the availability of healthcare, among other variables
—NOT dead bodies
. Immediately after a disaster, the priorities of the survivors should be in caring for other survivors by providing effective emergency sanitation, disinfecting drinking water, providing food, modifying shelters and so forth, not urgently disposing of the dead. Only after the immediate needs for the living are dealt with should the disposal of bodies commence.

What Happens to a Dead Body When It Decomposes

In days past, most cultures buried their dead near the home. Cemeteries didn't appear in cities until the seventeenth century. In a disaster situation, temporary burials may be necessary until outer conditions normalize to allow the transfer of the body to its final place. Dead bodies left exposed to the elements will putrefy and be the cause of much unpleasantness, especially in hot weather. Aside from heat, the main factor that influences the rate of decomposition of a body is the amount of bacteria already present within the intestines. This unknown variable will cause one body to noticeably start the decomposition process within a couple of hours, while a body a few feet away may not show the same signs for twelve hours or more. The stench and visible sight of the dead are a real buzz kill and will cause the morale of your tribe to suffer. While in some seasons a body will freeze solid, it will eventually "un-freeze" and must be dealt with just the same. In addition, roving packs of hungry animals from dogs and cats to coons and coyotes will dine on the dead and spread the body all around the neighborhood. When the danger of the initial emergency has passed, do whatever you need to do to fill yourself with courage and get into action to deal with the body as quickly as possible. The fact is that the body you see is no longer your loved one; it's just a shell.
The sooner you deal with a dead body, the less unpleasant your experience will be from its impending decomposition and its effects
.

While I have no direct exposure with bloated human corpses, I have a scientific collection permit from the Arizona Game and Fish Department that lets me legally harvest most species of animal roadkill for teaching purposes. This unique opportunity has allowed me to witness a wide variety of bodies in various stages of "yuckiness."

All decomposing flesh reacts the same way. Critters, both seen and unseen, just love dead stuff. Depending on the season and climate in which the death occurred, flies will be the first to join the party and will enter any available orifice to lay their eggs. Many hours later, the resulting hatched young (maggots) will make the body's skin literally crawl as they feed upon the corpse. Soon after, packs of flesh-eating beetles will arrive, usually black and orangish-red in color. Some are big, the size of a cockroach, and some are the size of a ladybug. Shortly after death, tiny microorganisms start to have their say within the body, and the resulting decomposition creates gas that causes the abdominal cavity of the body to swell up. The pressure from this gas will eventually get so intense that it will release itself out one of the body's orifices. Since decomposing flesh is greatly weakened, this gas might also burst through and release itself from the skin over the torso, thus spraying you with an assortment of liquids that are better left unsaid. Herbivores, having multiple stomachs, such as cows, will bloat up to a massive size from the putrefaction of grasses within the stomachs. These natural stages of decomposition make the body a literal putrefaction factory that greatly disfigures a dead body.