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Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) A Disaster Mortuary Operational
Response Team or DMORT is a team of experts in the fields of victim identification and mortuary services. DMORTs are activated in response to large
scale disasters United States to assist in the identification of deceased
individuals and storage of the bodies pending the bodies being claimed.
DMORT members work under the local authorities of the disaster site and their
professional licenses are recognized by all states.
DMORT Teams:
- REGION I (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI)
- REGION II (NY, NJ, PR, VI)
- REGION III (PA, MD, DC, DE, VA, WV)
- REGION IV (AL, KY, TN, NC, SC, GA, MS, FL)
- REGION V (MN, WI, IL, IN, MI, OH)
- REGION VI (NM, TX, OK, AR, LA)
- REGION VII (NE, IA, KS, MO)
- REGION VIII (MT, ND, SD, WY, UT, CO)
- REGION IX (AZ, NV, CA, HI)
- REGION X (WA, AK, OR, ID)
DMORTs are organized under the Department of Health and Human Services National
Disaster Medical System. The DMORTs are composed of medical
examiners, coroners, funeral directors, forensic anthropologists, fingerprint
specialists, dental assistants and radiographers.
 They are
supported by medical records technicians and transcribers, mental health
specialists, computer professionals, administrative support staff, and security
and investigative personnel. When a DMORT is activated, the personnel on the
team are treated and paid as a temporary Federal employee.
FEMA maintains two Disaster Portable Morgue Units (DPMU) which are staged at
FEMA Logistics Centers; one in Rockville, Maryland and San Jose, California.
Each DPMU is a cache of equipment and supplies for a complete morgue with
designated workstations for each process the DMORT team is required to
complete.
In the 1980s, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA)
formed a committee to address the need for a way of dealing with mass casualty
situations. The group had the goal of formulating a plan for funeral directors
to deal with the situation. As the committee worked on the plan, it was
revealed that such a situation would call for multiple forensic specialties.
The committee created the first portable morgue unit in the country.
The committee's work came to the attention of the Federal Government following
the complaints of families whose family members had been lost in airline
incidents. The families felt that the remains hadn't received adequate
treatment. Congress passed the Family Assistance Act in 1996. The
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSM) was assigned the role
managing the Federal response to aviation disaster victims and their families.
The division responsible for this response was the Office of Family Affairs,
later renamed the Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance. The NTSB made
use of DMORTs to handle large scale transportation disasters.
Following the creation of the Department of Homeland Security
in 2002, the DMORTs were moved into the Emergency Preparedness and Response
directorate as part of the National Disaster Medical System.
For the World Trade Center disaster, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human
Services Tommy G. Thompson  activated the National Disaster Medical System.
It was the first time this federally coordinated response system had been
activated on a full nationwide basis.
As of 2006, DMORT is operating the Find Family National Call Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This is the center of all
operations concerning the location and reuniting of families scattered by
Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Out of nearly 13,000 people reported
missing after the impacts of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Stan, and Wilma, nearly
7,000 have been found alive and reunited with their families.
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