OK, Petra, if you know Larry have him briefly defend his actions....what he did and why, and post it for him here.

One of the most damaging things that the media did was to go on and on about how the bodies were going to spread disease. This happened at the last major disaster (Bam?)....and finally they get someone on who ways no, dead bodies are not a serious problem for disease....it is bad sanitation from living people who have diseases...where sewage gets mixed with drinking water. This happened again this time,,,they finally have had a US government official who knows what she is talking about.

The reason this is damaging is that there are places where they are rushing to bury people in mass graves without a minimal effort at identification. So, surviving family members will never know exactly what happened to loved ones. Sure, you eventually (a day?) have to dispose of bodies, and there are places where such a high percentage of people were killed that indentification may be hopeless (for example, places in northern Sumatra and islands to the north that were completely obliterated).

Qualification: I know nothing about public health, but as a scientist I am trained to evaluate information and credibility of what I hear.
Chris