Dead Bodies from Natural Disasters Do Not Pose Health Risks, WHO Says

 A member of a rescue team searches for dead bodies, following deadly floods in Derna, Libya September 17, 2023. (Reuters)
A member of a rescue team searches for dead bodies, following deadly floods in Derna, Libya September 17, 2023. (Reuters)
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Dead Bodies from Natural Disasters Do Not Pose Health Risks, WHO Says

 A member of a rescue team searches for dead bodies, following deadly floods in Derna, Libya September 17, 2023. (Reuters)
A member of a rescue team searches for dead bodies, following deadly floods in Derna, Libya September 17, 2023. (Reuters)

Contrary to popular belief, the bodies of victims of natural disasters rarely pose a health threat to communities, the Red Cross and the World Health Organization (WHO) said, calling for precautions and protection of drinking water sources by keeping the bodies away, according to Agence France Press (AFP).

"Those who survive an event like a natural disaster are more likely to spread disease than dead bodies," noted experts.

Their advice comes after major flooding in Libya and an earthquake in Morocco that left thousands of deaths. When buried under rubble, scattered over it, or floating in water, dead bodies make a terrible scene that often prompts people to rush to bury them.

Authorities often try to bury the dead as swiftly as possible, which can heighten suffering for relatives and create legal problems for victims' families.

Injuries, drowning and burns

Generally, the remains of victims of natural disasters - or wars - do not cause epidemics, because people die as a result of injuries, drowning, or burns, and therefore they don’t carry germs that are likely to cause epidemics, according to the World Health Organization and the Red Cross Society. This means that corpses pose a "negligible" health risk.

However, the case is different with deaths resulting from infectious diseases such as Ebola, Marburg or cholera, or if disaster strikes in an area where infectious diseases are endemic.

"Those who survive an event like a natural disaster are more likely to spread disease than dead bodies," said Pierre Guyomarch, head of forensics at the Red Cross.

Protection of water sources

In the aftermath of any disaster, precautions must be taken to protect water sources, which could become contaminated with feces that come out of dead bodies.

Drinking contaminated water could cause diarrhea or other diseases. The water intended for consumption should simply be disinfected using ordinary means to eliminate dangerous germs.

"It's not the body that's the main cause of danger, it's everything in the water," such as mud and chemicals, noted WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris.

Avoiding rushed burial

But the idea that corpses can spread disease is a misunderstanding which often "pushes people to hastily bury the dead and make it more likely that people will go missing, leaving their loved ones in anguish for years to come," said Bilal Sablouh, regional forensics advisor for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The pressure resulting from such rumors in particular could encourage mass burials that are carried out in a hurry and in a way that rarely honors the dead.

"We urge authorities in communities touched by tragedy to not rush forward with mass burials or mass cremations," said Dr. Kazunobu Kojima, medical officer for biosafety and biosecurity in WHO’s Health Emergencies Program.

The WHO and Red Cross recommend the identification of bodies, well managed burials that include easily traceable and properly documented individual graves in demarcated burial sites.

Lime powder does not hasten decomposition, and since dead bodies in disaster or conflict are generally not an infectious risk, the disinfection of these bodies is not needed.



Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)

The Sculptor galaxy is similar in many respects to our Milky Way. It is about the same size and mass, with a similar spiral structure. But while it is impossible to get a full view of the Milky Way from the vantage point of Earth because we are inside the galaxy, Sculptor is perfectly positioned for a good look.

Astronomers have done just that, releasing an ultra-detailed image of the Sculptor galaxy on Wednesday obtained with 50 hours of observations using one of the world's biggest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope.

The image shows Sculptor, also called NGC 253, in around 4,000 different colors, each corresponding to a specific wavelength in the optical spectrum.

Because various galactic components emit light differently across the spectrum, the observations are providing information at unprecedented detail on the inner workings of an entire galaxy, from star formation to the motion of interstellar gas on large scales. Conventional images in astronomy offer only a handful of colors, providing less information.

The researchers used the telescope's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, or MUSE, instrument.

"NGC 253 is close enough that we can observe it in remarkable detail with MUSE, yet far enough that we can still see the entire galaxy in a single field of view," said astronomer Enrico Congiu, a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, and lead author of research being published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"In the Milky Way, we can achieve extremely high resolution, but we lack a global view since we're inside it. For more distant galaxies, we can get a global view, but not the fine detail. That's why NGC 253 is such a perfect target: it acts as a bridge between the ultra-detailed studies of the Milky Way and the large-scale studies of more distant galaxies. It gives us a rare opportunity to connect the small-scale physics with the big-picture view," Congiu said.

Sculptor is about 11 million light-years from Earth, making it one of the closest big galaxies to the Milky Way. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning it has an elongated structure extending from its nucleus, with spiral arms extending from the ends of the bar. Its diameter of about 88,000 light-years is similar to the Milky Way's, as is its total mass. One major difference is Sculptor's rate of new star formation, estimated to be two to three times greater than that of the Milky Way.

Nearly 30% of this star formation is happening near the galaxy's nucleus in what is called a starburst region, as revealed in colorful emissions shown in the new image.

The observations have given information on a wide range of properties such as the motion, age and chemical composition of stars and the movement of interstellar gas, an important component of any galaxy.

"Since the light from stars is typically bluer if the stars are young or redder if the stars are old, having thousands of colors lets us learn a lot about what stars and populations of stars exist in the galaxy," said astronomer Kathryn Kreckel of Heidelberg University in Germany, a study co-author.

"Similarly for the gas, it glows in specific bright emission lines at very specific colors, and tells us about the different elements that exist in the gas, and what is causing it to glow," Kreckel said.

The initial research being published from the observations involves planetary nebulae, which are luminous clouds of gas and dust expelled by certain dying stars. Despite their name, they have nothing to do with planets. These nebulae can help astronomers measure the precise distances of faraway galaxies.

The researchers marveled at the scientific and aesthetic value of the new view of Sculptor.

"I personally find these images amazing," Congiu said. "What amazes me the most is that every time I look at them, I notice something new - another nebula, a splash of unexpected color or some subtle structure that hints at the incredible physics behind it all."