Disaster Victim Identification (DVI)
Definition
The systematic process of identifying the deceased after a mass-casualty event using the INTERPOL DVI form sets, which standardise ante-mortem and post-mortem data collection and reconciliation.
- Standard used
- INTERPOL DVI form sets
- Data types reconciled
- Ante-mortem and post-mortem
- Scope
- Mass-casualty events
- Field
- Disaster victim identification, forensic nursing
Common questions
Why does DVI rely on standardised INTERPOL forms rather than local paperwork?+
Mass-casualty events often involve multiple jurisdictions, agencies, and sometimes nationalities among the victims, so a common form structure lets ante-mortem data gathered by different teams be reconciled against post-mortem findings without translation or formatting mismatches.
What is the reconciliation phase of DVI?+
It is the stage where ante-mortem records (dental charts, DNA, fingerprints, personal effects) are systematically compared against post-mortem findings to produce and confirm identifications, typically reviewed by a reconciliation board before a match is finalised.
Related terms
- Ante-Mortem (AM) Data
- Information gathered from family members, medical providers, or records about the appearance, health history, dental treatment, and fingerprints of a person before...
- Family Liaison Officer (FLO)
- A dedicated contact point between the investigation and the bereaved family, responsible for two-way information flow: collecting AM data from the family...
- Mass-Casualty Incident (MCI)
- An event that produces more casualties than available resources can immediately manage, requiring special coordination between emergency services, hospitals, morgues, and victim-identification...
- Post-Mortem (PM) Data
- Information collected from a recovered body or body fragment : physical description, dental examination, fingerprints, DNA profile, personal effects : used in...
- Secondary Traumatic Stress
- Psychological distress in responders resulting from exposure to others' trauma and death at mass-casualty events. Includes intrusive images, emotional numbing, hypervigilance, and...