DVI command and coordination
Define authority, activation, scaling, information flow and multinational interfaces.
DVI · Mass-fatality coordination
The connected stages of disaster victim identification.
DVI capability depends on disciplined interfaces between scene recovery, post-mortem examination, ante-mortem information, reconciliation, family liaison, command and judicial authority.
What is Disaster Victim Identification?
Disaster Victim Identification is the internationally recognised process used to identify victims of mass-casualty or mass-fatality incidents. It connects scene recovery and unique numbering with post-mortem findings, ante-mortem data and formal reconciliation, supported by command, quality assurance and family communication.
Continuity across recovery, examination and reconciliation.
Recovery numbering, personal effects, custody records, mortuary flow, data quality and reconciliation must remain aligned across multiple sites and organisations. Terrorism, CBRN contamination, disrupted infrastructure or multinational victims add further command and legal interfaces.
Analytical dimensions
Four connected aspects of the field.
The categories below organise the principal operational, scientific and evidential questions without prescribing a single institutional model.
Scene recovery
Connect systematic recovery, documentation, numbering, personal effects and evidential requirements.
PM–AM–reconciliation workflow
Exercise how post-mortem findings and ante-mortem information become a formal identification conclusion.
CBRN and terror interfaces
Integrate responder safety, contaminated remains, criminal evidence and victim dignity.
Methodological perspective
Operational practice, published guidance and research are considered together.
The field is examined through observable decisions, inter-agency dependencies, evidential continuity and the limits of available methods. Practical experience provides questions and context; it does not replace discipline-specific standards, validation or competent authority.
ScopeNational authority and INTERPOL-compatible processes govern formal identification. Exercise design is adapted to the participating jurisdiction and cannot itself confer operational accreditation.
Place within the wider TSM knowledge map.
This field is considered as one part of complex-scene management. Its terminology, methods and limits should be read together with the relevant legal framework, professional guidance and peer-reviewed evidence.
Research and publications · All research and practice fields