ALGERIA: Dozens of Algerian families faced a grim search yesterday scouring photographs of bruised faces and broken bodies, some already beginning to decompose, hung on a cemetery wall here in a desperate bid to identify the dead.
Scores of corpses remain unidentified since being pulled from the rubble of Wednesday's earthquake in northern Algeria, which has left more than 2,200 dead and some 9,000 injured.
In the main Algerian cemetery, along a peaceful, acacia-lined walkway, authorities have displayed pictures of the dead, hoping someone will recognise them and claim them.
More than 770 bodies have been brought here, and a smell of death and decay pervades the air, partly due to the decomposing bodies and partly due to the antiseptic sprayed over the area every 30 minutes.
"All those who died in the Algiers area, have been brought here. As well as the photos, we take their measurements, fingerprints and dental records. We also note down any particular marks, jewels and clothes," said prosecutor Hocine Mouzali.
If one of the corpses is identified, then the family is taken to the coffin for a closer identification. A doctor issues a death certificate and the family is given permission to bury the body and the death is officially registered.Dozens of graves have been dug up with pickaxes, leaving small mounds of earth dotting the cemetery. The bodies wrapped in linen are then laid to rest.