Nearly 20 years since Sri Lanka suffered unprecedented destruction and loss of life at the hands of Mother Nature, some victims of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, remain unclaimed.  According to Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) authorities at Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, remains of nearly 137 unidentified individuals who lost their lives to the effects of the 2004 tsunami, remain unclaimed at the Forensic Medicine Department at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ruhuna in Galle.

Following the Tsunami, thousands of bodies, many visually unidentifiable, were buried in mass graves along the coast. The Authorities at the time did not have the capacity, nor the required skill base to collect samples of tissue which could have been stored for identification later on. Granted, many of the dead had been found after being drowned in brackish or sea water, which had by several days aided in significant decomposition of the remains. As such, whether it was indeed possible to extract DNA samples which would be adequate to test for identification from such, remains a case by case issue. The sheer volume of the dead would have also necessitated the action the State took regarding the dead bodies – their options would have been limited at the time.    

While it is understandable that there is a complex process to deal with human remains which are entered as evidence in a crime, the lack of action regarding human remains from a natural disaster nearly 20 years on, is indeed tragic. The fact serves as a reminder about the long-term impact and the magnitude of the Boxing Day tragedy. It also highlights that Sri Lanka lacks a robust policy on disasters, and the ensuing period after. Sri Lanka has faced natural and man-made disasters, conflicts, terrorism attacks and pandemics in its 75 years of “independent” history. However, much remains to be done about disaster resilience, preparedness and response.

In many other countries, such remains after a few years, would be sampled for evidence and given their final rites by the State. Some are buried in common graves, with monuments erected to commemorate them. However, it seems that even after nearly 20 years, those 137 Sri Lankans and possibly some foreign nationals who died on that fateful day, linger without closure. The fact that the remains of 137 lie, unaddressed, is also indicative of the State moving on and forgetting them. It is incumbent on the Government to act, and allow these lost souls to rest.

The issue does not end there, there is also a serious lack of forensic capacity at national level to identify such persons, especially from mass casualty events like terrorism, conflict and natural disasters. Firstly, Sri Lanka lacks a national database of dental x-rays of adolescent children and adults. Sri Lanka also doesn’t have a national database of fingerprints or biometric information of its citizens which can be used to help with identification of those lost to disasters.

It indicates how lessons have not been learnt over decades, and  that Sri Lanka has not moved to implement such mechanisms, which are commonplace in other democracies. The 2024 Tsunami should have been a wakeup call.  Policies and mechanisms to build disaster resilience, response and post incident management should have been better formulated, funded. However, like in many other areas of concern, successive governments have largely left disaster management policy to marking two minutes silence for the victims of the Tsunami. Nothing concrete has happened. It seems that the Government’s reaction to such disasters, which could be just around the bend, is silence. When will the 137 souls finally find a place of rest?  And will we be ready for the next disaster? Let’s hope we don’t have to find out the hard way.