TMCnet News
FUNERAL DIRECTORS DENY 'MASS GRAVES' IN WAKE OF BIRDFLU(New Zealand Press Association Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Wellington, Jan 10 NZPA - Reports of proposed mass graves for New Zealand's prison population in the wake of an Asian bird flu pandemic have been called ``unwise and unwarranted'' by the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand (FDANZ). The Sunday Star Times reported at the weekend a proposal contained in Corrections Department contingency plans to deal with the country's 7500 prison population in the event of an avian flu disaster. The plans included releasing low-security prisoners but leaving the most dangerous inmates at the mercy of the disease, which has killed more than 70 people overseas since late 2003. Also under consideration was sealing entire prisons for six weeks, with no one allowed in or out and the dead being buried in mass graves. FDANZ's official appointee to the Ministry of Health's Pandemic Planning Committee Simon Manning denied the speculation of mass graves and the storage of corpses in refrigerated trucks. Mr Manning said the FDANZ was not even considering mass graves. In the event of a significant death toll from a pandemic New Zealand's funeral directors would have a great deal of responsibility and were being kept informed as to the official planning requirements and their role in such an event, Mr Manning said. While victims would be buried in individual graves in local cemeteries, during the pandemic public gatherings would be banned so burials would take place as soon as possible after the death, Mr Manning said. Cremation may not be an option during the pandemic due to the possible interruption of gas supplies to crematoria and the possible difficulty in signing medical referee authority for cremation, he said. Mr Manning said due to a possible infrastructure breakdown there could be a shortage of caskets but victims would be buried in an approved manner, in marked graves, at their nearby cemeteries. The Health Ministry has estimated that, in the most severe scenario involving Asian bird flu, up to 40 percent of New Zealanders could contract the disease, resulting in up to 33,000 deaths. NZPA WGT bmc mgr kk |