"State-of-the-art morgue facility" The 37-acre acre facility stands ready, after service in Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, to provide support for future disaster in the region. LA-RFO Photo. Back to Features

Corps, Navy oversee construction of critical mortuary facility
By Mike Smith, Louisiana Recovery Field Office

A few days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Louisiana coast, FEMA assigned the Corps of Engineers a special mission. They were directed to provide engineering and construction support to the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team  (DMORT).

DMORT is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security program and a component of the National Disaster Medical System.

At the request of the State of Louisiana, DMORT teams began arriving in the disaster area three days before Katrina struck. Their assignment was to assist the State with the mass fatalities that officials anticipated Katrina would cause. The DMORT teams of doctors, morticians, anthropologists, dentists, and forensic scientists, established a full forensic laboratory and identification center at St. Gabriel, La.

The personnel settled in and undertook a massive six-month effort to help identify the remains of people killed by Katrina, or the remains disinterred during Katrina and Rita's flooding. The initial tasking also called for the Corps was to construct a support facility for the DMORT staff at Carville, La.

They received assistance from the U.S. Navy in completing this task by using an existing contract between the Navy and contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root.

Construction activities began in early September, and the day-to-day work proceeded under the direction of Navy Seabees (NAVFAC-Atlantic), with Corps personnel providing oversight, advice and guidance. Officials later enlarged the project to incorporate the forensic laboratory operating at St. Gabriel. This decision was based upon the conditions at the St. Gabriel site which became intolerable.

As the temperature climbed outside, the temperatures inside the warehouse housing DMORT operations approached 130 degrees at the ceiling and 110 degrees on the floor. This situation was worsened with the arrival of Hurricane Rita, which dumped 11 inches of water on the already stressed base camp.

Relocating both the identification laboratory and the support facility on one site in Carville resulted in the establishment of the Victim Identification Center, or VIC.

The Corps and Navy turned over the fully operational VIC to the State of Louisiana, DMORT and FEMA on Nov. 28, 2005.

The secure and fenced 37-acre compound contains all the infrastructure needed to support both the facility and the staff. The 18,720-square-foot Morgue Facility is large enough to support the primary mission of the VIC.

The morgue is divided into two sections. One half contains 10 separate analysis stations for forensic tasks and the other half is divided into warehouse space and re-casketing workspace. It was designed to be capable of processing 150 victims per day and it has been described as one of the finest facilities of its kind.

DMORT closed down its primary operations in Louisiana on March 1, 2006, with the final unidentified remains scheduled for turn over to Louisiana authorities in their respective parishes for burial or re-interment. Almost 1,000 DMORT team members worked at the VIC.

Corps project manager Mike Smith (l) discussed the project with
LA-RFO Commander Charlie Smithers and a FEMA official.  LA-RFO Photo.