The identity of nearly every identified Finnish victim of the December 26th tsunami catastrophe has been established by using dental records. The DNA samples that were collected from hundreds of the victims' family members have hardly been used.
So far, the biggest problem has been to retrieve proper dental records from Finland concerning the numerous Finnish children that still remain missing.
In all, 61 Finns under the age of 18 went missing in the disaster. Fifty of them are still unaccounted for, whereas of the 117 adult victims only 21 remain unidentified.
The Finnish forensic experts are also using fingerprints to identify some of the child victims whose dental records have proved inadequate. Reference fingerprints have been taken from toys and other objects the victims may have touched at home.
So far, only a couple of the Finnish victims have been identified based on DNA testing.
Other forms of preliminary identification were first performed in Thailand, while DNA testing was only used in Finland for final confirmation.
The victims' identification process in Thailand is led by the local officials who decide where and when DNA testing should take place. Many of the European countries have good facilities for DNA testing.
In addition to dental records and fingerprints, victims have also been identified based on X-rays and operation scars. Performing a DNA test for every one of the 5,700 tsunami victims in Thailand alone would have been much too time-consuming.
The National Bureau of Investigation originally estimated that perhaps half of the Finnish tsunami victims would be identified. This number has now been clearly exceeded.
