Here's a graphic example of "convergence" (when, in the wake of a disaster or emergency, people converge on the site). Similar to certain "other" operations, one remedy is to create an inner and outer perimetre around the site (however in this instance it's impossible). When it's "only" a fire, crime or traffic accident here in Canada, it'll include "gawkers"/rubber-neckers who only want to look, well-meaning but often untrained/unskilled volunteers, relatives, etc. - they can get in the way of rescue workers/investigators, and even create new dangers or problems as illustrated by this article:
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7219985
Thais Order Kin of Foreigners Away from Morgues
Mon Jan 3, 2005 02:07 AM ET
By Darren Schuettler
PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) - Thai police on Monday ordered families and friends of foreigners to stay away from tsunami-hit areas, including Buddhist temples turned temporary morgues where they have searched for missing loved ones.
Police said the move was necessary to allow hundreds of forensic experts to get on with the job of identifying bodies of thousands of Thais and foreigners through DNA samples.
"Friends and family members must refrain from visiting the tsunami-affected locations, temples, mosques, all operational grounds, including DNA gathering sites and autopsy sites," Police Lieutenant Tuaytup Dwibyunsin said in a statement.
"We appreciate your assistance very much, but we have to get organized," he said. "We don't want you risking your lives."
Hundreds of foreigners have scoured temporary morgues in the past eight days, searching for family and friends either dead or missing after the killer waves slammed into Thailand's Andaman Sea coast and islands.
Thailand's national disaster center said 5,046 bodies -- 2,459 of them foreigners -- had been recovered from smashed luxury hotels and fishing villages, a popular destination for sun-starved foreigners during the cold northern European winter.
Nearly 4,000 people are still missing -- a number which dropped from about 6,500 after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the list was being reviewed -- including more than 1,600 foreigners, many of them Scandinavians.
While respecting their grief, Tuaytup said the order was necessary to "prevent tampering of evidence and obstructing official gathering of DNA information."
It was addressed to "friends, family members searching for loved ones, foreigners, foreign volunteers and members of the press" and aimed at protecting them from potential disease.
Foreign volunteers must register with the authorities and needed permission to enter restricted areas, it said.
TASK FORCE
The clampdown comes a day after a 19-nation forensic task force was announced to oversee the grisly work of identifying bodies -- mainly through dental records and DNA testing -- which will take many months to complete.
Some bodies may never be recovered or identified, task force leaders said. They said the corpses -- badly decomposed after more than a week in the tropical sun -- were now beyond recognition and families and friends should go home.
Search teams zeroed in on the hardest hit areas on Monday, and Thai and Japanese navy ships scoured the seas for more dead.
Rescue teams expected to finish clearing bodies from Phi Phi island, made famous in the 2000 film "The Beach," after pulling out 50-60 rotting corpses on Sunday, Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula told reporters.
Thaksin, eager to rebuild a key part of Thailand's lucrative tourist trade quickly, was to tour Phi Phi later on Monday.
Bhokin said the main search effort continued in Phang Nga province, where thousands of foreign tourists and Thai villagers were swept away from the area around Khao Lak beach by giant waves eight days ago.
"We should clear them from Phi Phi on Monday. Phuket and Krabi have finished and the only work that remains is in Phang Nga," he said, referring to the island of Phuket, one of Asia's premier beach resorts, and the mainland province of Krabi.
"After this, our work will focus on reconstruction," said Bhokin, who hopes to finish the recovery phase of the operation by Jan. 7.
SWEDEN REELING
Sweden, reeling from a disaster that may have claimed 1,000 Swedish lives, pushed for another search of the Andaman Sea coastline by Thai and Japanese navy vessels, Bhokin said. About 70-80 bodies have been scooped out of the water near the Similan Islands off Phang Nga, a naval officer said.
Elephants have also joined the search for bodies in Khao Lak, heading into debris-strewn forests with rescue teams to retrieve corpses where heavy earth-moving equipment cannot go.
"The elephant is like a four-wheel drive. They walk in the forest all their life," said elephant trainer Laitonglian Meepan.
Investment bank JP Morgan said in a research note that the tsunamis had dealt a "hammer blow" to portions of the region's tourist industry.
"Thailand is the severest casualty as some of its prime tourist areas have been devastated by the tsunamis," it said. (Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer and Viparat Jantraprap)
