Comment: Mass Graves in Guatemala - Ethics Over Safety?
              (by Anthony-George D'Andrea)

On Saturday, October 8 2005 a mudslide, prompted by a hurricane, ended an estimated 1,400 Mayan Indian lives in Guatemala. Rescuers rushed to the scene as quickly as possible, but seeing how the mud covering some bodies was as deep as forty feet, recovering the victims was not easy. The difficulty of the rescue at hand came to a point where the Guatemalan government considered naming the site a mass grave.

Heavy rains came down in the precarious region of Central America where many people had built homes close to riverbeds and mountain sides. It was this placement of their homes which was ultimately responsible for their muddy death. Night time rumbles from the volcanic slopes gave little warning as to what was to come – only a few realized the warning and managed to escape in time. The others met their end only a few hours later when a wall of mud fell upon their homes.

Guatemala’s government said that damage to crops and dead livestock added up to an approximate cost of $389 million dollars. The cost, however, for the hundreds of families that have no idea where their loved ones are with the exception that they are somewhere buried in the monstrosity of mud, by far exceeds any type of lost agriculture.

Mayan Indian tradition calls for the retrieval of the bodies and a decent burial; however they are now faced with a situation where tradition may not prevail. By continuing to dig, the rescuers might encounter soft mud and could possibly prompt another mudslide. With belief that by now the bodies are too rotten to even be identified and that by digging them up, the only thing that can come out of it is disease, it seems as if the government will take the appropriate measures and claim the terror struck territory as a grave.

Many can argue that this is not the right decision; the Guatemalan government should continue to dig and find all the bodies and give them the proper burial regardless of the fact that they are most likely unidentifiable.

Of course others would prefer that the risk of a disease outbreak should be contained and that for other safety measures, the people who were unfortunate to be caught in the disaster should remain where they are.

This article needs no more statistics. It does not need any more death tolls or estimations. A tragedy has occurred and thousands have been affected by it. The burning question now is how should one deal with such a tragedy?

Is it ethical to give up on so many bodies and searching families? Is it ethical to place several other people in danger by digging up the bodies and exposing them to possible diseases?

This questioning banter can continue forever, but one must look at what is important. The bodies, although not properly buried, are buried. For the most part one can tape off the area of where a loved one might be.

However for those who have lost a loved one, by having the ground claimed a mass grave, they are denied one last chance to see the deceased. They were taken from them without warning and did not have a chance to give their last goodbyes before leaving them forever. Now already buried, the victims are lost under the suffocating mud and when a family member or friend goes to visit the grave, flowers and offerings will be scattered for they will truly never know the exact location of their loved ones. There is no closure for the families by declaring the site a mass grave. They can only hope that when the landslide occurred, it happened in a manner where the end was brought quickly and that no pain or suffering was dealt upon the victims.

With various other health scares around the world, the Guatemalan government clearly does not want to contribute any disease to its country or world by continuing to dig up the what is now rotten and dead.

It bothers people, however, because to think that a person is being buried with what killed them does not sound right. After all, a person who was stabbed multiple times would not be placed in a casket with the knife remaining in him or her.

Despite this, if the people were to continue to dig and extract bodies from the wreckage, they would have to bury their loved ones twice. The emotional damage has already been done. It is certain that those who are under the mud are deceased, so why should those who mourn now, mourn again?

Tragedy upon tragedy due to natural disasters has bruised the world over. In some cases, these natural disasters were foreseen, providing people with a chance to escape in time. For example, many times throughout each year Floridians, on most occasions, are lucky enough to be warned about what is to come their way and how they should deal with it.

In the case of the mudslide in Guatemala and even in the earthquake which shook Pakistan, these people had absolutely little idea of what was about to occur. They could have been stepping outside to walk or enjoying breakfast with the family. They were taken away in an instant from their loved ones and all the loved ones wanted was one more chance to see them. However, it is clear that the chances of this occurring are quite slim and that the best thing that can occur, despite the Mayan traditions of a respectful burial and the cries of those who have lost loved ones, is that the area be tapered off and marked a mass grave.

Sources

Daniel, Frank Jack. "Guatemalan village buried in mud, 1,400 feared dead." Yahoo! News. 8 Oct. 2005. 5 Nov. 2005. <http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051008/wl_nm/weather_stan_dc>.

Garcia, Eduardo. "Disease threatens survivors of Guatemala mudslide." Reuters. 16 Oct. 2005. 5 Nov. 2005. <http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=9936871
&src=rss/healthNews>.

"Guatemala Death Toll Rises."CBS News. 10 Oct. 2005. 5 Nov. 2005. <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/11/world/main931722.shtml>.

"Guatemala slide toll may hit 1,400." CNN. 10 Oct. 2005. 5 Nov. 2005. <http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/10/09/guatemala.landslide.reut/index.html>.

[ issue contents ] [ fmm home ] [ send feedback ] [ tell a friend ]