As from February 14, 2005, this website no longer serve new
registration of missing persons from the Tsunami in Thailand.
However, our database for missing persons is still fully accessible.
Our team is now working closely with the autopsy data of the CIFS
(Central Institute of Forensic Science Thailand) in order to match
the missing persons with the information of the found bodies. If you
would like to give us more information about any missing person that
may improve our matching with the dead bodies, please send more
description of the missing persons: any distinctive features of the
person, things which he/she might wear, dental x-ray image of the
person.
IDENTIFYING BODIES (A NON-TECHNICAL VERSION)
There are three "official" ways to identify a
body:
- Fingerprints,
- DNA matching, and,
- Dental records
As of 2005-02-21, more than 2000 victims have
successfully had fingerprints recovered. Approximately 80% of victims
examined have identifiable fingerprints. It is unfortunate that there
are only a small number of (ante mortem) fingerprint submissions.
Around 21% of these submissions match (post mortem) figerprints
recovered. The bodies are identified and returned home. This is the
highest rate of
success we have seen so far!! Therefore, submission of figerprints
are strongly encouraged. This can be done though diplomatic
channels.
Some disasters might have relied heavily on DNA
matching, the tsunami disaster is different in many ways. Decomposition
rate is much slower in dry/cool situation like the 9/11 WTC disaster,
or
"wet" cases of inorganic compounds like undersea treasure or
sunk ships. In the tsunami situation, bodies were drowned in sea water
and later recovered to a dry area. When combining with tropical
climate, they decay rapidly, both outside-in and inside-out. Keeping
the body in temperature-controlled morgue does not stop decomposition
process. Despite all these unfortunate conditions, DNA is still
collected and some are useable for the indentification process. To
understand the
accuracy/complexity of this process, see the followings (1) DNA interactive (2) DNA forensics (3) Scale of tsunami tragedy complicates DNA matching
and (4) interactive DNA profiling tutorial.
Dental record, particularly X-ray films, can overcome
decomposition problem. If you post pictures of your loved ones on the
bulleting boards/web boards, choose picture with a broad smile so that
front teeth can be seen. A better approach is to post dental X-ray films
and leave email/phone number of the dentist in addition to picture of
victims wearing cloths they wore on the day tsunami struck.
Should all the above fail, identification by spotting a
picture of clothing or other artifacts also helps. Unfortunately, it
may not be enough to claim the body. Cloth may be similar, tattoo can
be of a popular pattern.
- Claiming a body of foreign national must
be done through embassy or consulate office in conjunction with the TTVI
center in Phuket. See also Data Tracking
page.
- Getting reference number of the picture helps narrowing down
the search and speed up identification process but will not be enough to
get the body released. At the TTVI (Thai Tsunami Victim Indentification Centre), it has to be either fingerprint,
DNA or dental records.
This web site is created to serve those who are in
need to advertise for the missing of their loved ones in the Tsunami
disaster in southern Thailand on December 26, 2004. In
order to help our visitors to find the missing, our volunteers
have coordinated with many organizations in the disaster area to
gather all known information sources about the survivors, injured and the
dead persons and made them accessible here. The registered missing
persons are listed in the alphabetical order of last names (in the Thai
language page, we list names by their first names). A simple
search engine which match your search term against first name, last name
and nationality is provided so that we can have the maximum
likelihood to show some records close to the query. Another search
engine for locating information about the survivors, injured and dead
is also provided.
As from Jan 14, 2005, we have improved our database so
that most known duplicated records of the same person have been
merged into one. All the photographs of the missing persons have
been optimized so that they load faster to your browser. For
Japanese guests, we recommend that you register with the system "I am Alive Alliance"
in Japanese language. If you would like to get the latest update on
the situations, resources and a unified search engine for persons, we
recommend the service of Internet
Thailand Tsunami Relief information,
If you would like to help us, we recommend a direct
donation to the Thai Red Cross
Society and the Rachapranukroh Foundation (under the patronage of
His Majesty the King). Detailed donation information
is available here at this site.
Missingperson.or.th is fully supported by the Thai Red
Cross Society and the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center,
National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science
and Technology.
Latest statistics (Jan 26, 2005)
Total number of missing persons registered here: 4636,
from 62 countries. More than 346 cases have been
resolved.
| THAILAND |
1609 |
| GERMANY |
596 |
| SWEDEN |
422 |
| (blank) |
416 |
| UNITED KINGDOM |
241 |
| UNITED STATES |
147 |
| FRANCE |
122 |
| SWITZERLAND |
115 |
| FINLAND |
99 |
| AUSTRIA |
87 |
| CANADA |
60 |
| NETHERLANDS |
57 |
| AUSTRALIA |
56 |
| NORWAY |
50 |
| ROMANIA |
46 |
| ITALY |
45 |
| SINGAPORE |
45 |
| SOUTH AFRICA |
39 |
| DENMARK |
38 |
| JAPAN |
32 |
| MEXICO |
21 |
| CHINA |
18 |
| UKRAINE |
18 |
| BAHRAIN |
17 |
| ISRAEL |
16 |
| PORTUGAL |
16 |
| LITHUANIA |
15 |
| SPAIN |
15 |
| RUSSIAN FEDERATION |
14 |
| BELGIUM |
12 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC |
12 |
| HONG KONG |
12 |
| CHILE |
11 |
| LUXEMBOURG |
11 |
| PHILIPPINES |
9 |
| IRELAND |
8 |
| ESTONIA |
7 |
| NEW ZEALAND |
7 |
| POLAND |
7 |
| ARGENTINA |
6 |
| GREECE |
6 |
| INDIA |
6 |
| TURKEY |
6 |
| African (no specific
country) |
5 |
| CROATIA |
5 |
| NEPAL |
4 |
| KOREA, REPUBLIC OF |
3 |
| VIET NAM |
3 |
| ZIMBABWE |
3 |
| BRAZIL |
2 |
| COLOMBIA |
2 |
| COSTA RICA |
2 |
| INDONESIA |
2 |
| IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
OF |
2 |
| NIGERIA |
2 |
| TANZANIA, UNITED REPUBLIC
OF |
2 |
| GEORGIA |
1 |
| KOREA (NORTH), DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF |
1 |
| KUWAIT |
1 |
| LATVIA |
1 |
| MALAYSIA |
1 |
| MOROCCO |
1 |
| SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC |
1 |
TOTAL NUMBER OF
MISSING PERSONS |
4636 |
