This is not a comfortable subject for most folks, but it is essential.

Survivalblog has a nice read on this



The Dead Don’t Bury Themselves, by M.R.
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Let me be honest. Writing this was not pleasant. Researching the information on death and burial and reviewing what I already knew was depressing, to say the least. The topic of death is one that the living naturally try to avoid, but if any group understands that avoiding reality does not remove it from our lives, it is the peppers/survivalists. Modern management of death has removed the need to know from our current lives. A SHTF experience can quickly remove those modern death management services.



The Dead Don’t Bury Themselves, by M.R.

 

For past practice, use "Spanish flu pandemic" as a search term. Mass death and mass graves/burial are nothing new in North America. For now, it's just history.....

 

That had been valuable input thank you very much all.

 

I imagine undertakers will be one of the first cottage industries to flourish, that and "honey wagons", nobody wants to deal with dead things or poop when they can trade a few .22 cartridges for the service.

 

"Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms"
Josey Wales

 

When I was in Tibet our guide pointed out a flock of vultures soaring over an area with a lot of colorful pennants high on the mountain. He said ever morning they perform "sky burials". Friends of the deceased carry the bodies to that location and dismember them, along with crushing the bones, all of which is fed to the vultures which consume everything. The alternative is "water burial" where the chopped up remains are thrown in the river for fish to eat. Tibetans don't eat fish. This is the least graphic picture I could find on the Internet; they are hard to look at.

 

...... yep you learned the same tough lessons many bad folk have when they think they are going to dispose of a body properly with a bucket of fuel and a match. This is why it is called a funeral pyre, you need a good fuel load (think stack of logs) to burn all the fluids/fats out of the body, look at a Viking funeral, big burning boat etc. Even after a big pyre (or professional cremation) there is a bit more left than ashes most of the time.

 

A few words of advice. For dealing with a body, be it human or other, NEVER bury near the water table! That means at the same mean tide or flow of water, or standing water! Always move to higher ground! If possible, bury with old rotting wood as well as green, wood! Sweet grass is another "fuel" that can be added! This helps speed decay! Finally, top with large rocks or other obstructions to keep animals from digging it up! Treat a body like any other Bio Hazard, keeping it away from drinking water sources, as well as food sources I.E. animals you can or would eat! Like posted above, Fire would need to be very hot for complete destruction! If you live near a large body of fresh water or Salt water, a good burial at sea is more then ideal, the body will be consumed quite quickly and will pose little if any risk of contamination! A little off track here, but this bears adding; if you find your self involved in a large scale natural disaster, avoid all standing and slow moving water!!! This can spread disease very quickly and hamper ones chances at surviving unscathed!

Another posted about Medical waist, Treat this differently, Burn it after letting it dry out down wind! For Amputations, or other "hard core" procedures, It is also best to burn! Unfortunately, I am an expert in this area. The reasons are simply to keep exposure to a minimum and to dispose of things that may not decay on there own ( Like bandages, and wraps ect.) So, even with an Amp. Limb, fire isn't going to take that long to do it's work!

 

Ya do need a good heat source , we run two incinerators for bones / carcass / shellfish OUR DOG would get into . any smell-ems of good is always burnt , dead rats / Dogs catch , bird culls etc. I takes 2 or 3 to one of the mass your trying to incinerate in wood , I live in a rain forest . safer than a propane forest / wells .

 

Save your wood ash!

 

I understand that having a good source of lie can deal with corpses , it just takes time.