Ironraven:

Your post brought up some good questions and reminded me of something I had once heard in the family.

When my Grandma was a teenager she helped at a local hospital doing various chores and such. One of which was acting as an undertaker if you will. I spoke to my mom about this and learned Grandma had written about her experiences in her diaries. Basically, the body was prepared by washing (soap and water and then a disinfectant, though which one was not mentioned) then rubbed with oil of wintergreen for preserving the body, wrapped several times in linen and then placed into a coffin. In the old days there was not many “open caskets” at a funeral and embalming wasn’t done. I am not sure how they faired in the warm summer months. If you had time and could not get to a funeral home then this could be an option to consider.

About warm weather. If I had to do it and a body bag wasn’t available, then I would (time permitting) do a similar procedure above and then continue to wrap in a tyvek tarp and maybe the heavy duty plastic garbage bags in a survival kit. I would bury the remains in a grave and indeed mark the spot (GPS, or Map) and cover the grave with foliage and rocks to keep the remains cool as bloating occurs when the heat is higher. Another alternative would be to place the remains in a old freezer, or refrigerator.

If you are in a hurry, you may just want to place the remains into the garbage sacks and then a grave of sorts. I would say if you are running from a potential flood like a Katrina style hurricane you may return only to find the remains have been washed away. I am not trying to be extremely morbid just pointing out facts.

In Idaho there is a so-called natural burial law which simply states a persons remains shall be buried without embalming etc. etc. if it is done within 96 hours of death. I do know that in the event of “unclaimed remains” (like in a disaster, but the word disaster is not used) the remains will be kept in a “common morgue” for 45 days before the state will proceed with a burial. Check your local laws about this. Hope this helps.

Stargazer