A dental perspective on the successes and limitations of the disaster victim identification response to the Nepal earthquake

Samarika Dahal; Gopal Kumar Chaudhary; Mani Raj Maharjan; Eugen Dolma Walung

doi:10.1080/20961790.2022.2034716

A dental perspective on the successes and limitations of the disaster victim identification response to the Nepal earthquake

Forensic Sci Res. 2022 Mar 10;7(3):366-370. doi: 10.1080/20961790.2022.2034716. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Samarika Dahal¹, Gopal Kumar Chaudhary², Mani Raj Maharjan², Eugen Dolma Walung²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oral Pathology & Forensic Dentistry, Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal.
² Department of Forensic Medicine, Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Abstract

This article describes the forensic odontological analysis of the events of the 2015 Nepal earthquake. It identifies the problems encountered in the aftermath, lessons learned, and prospective future advances aimed at reducing the subjectivity in disaster victim identification (DVI). During a crisis, dental practitioners, particularly forensic odontologists, can make a substantial contribution to DVI, as highlighted in this article. It also promotes best practices in forensic dentistry that may be used by anyone in situations with few resources or people to deal with comparable scenarios.

Keywords: Forensic sciences; Nepal; earthquake; forensic dentistry; identification.

Publication types

Case Reports