After Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast I was deployed to the area for 17 days by the national Disaster Mortuary Operations Team (DMORT). The first week I volunteered identifying victims in Gulfport, Mississippi. The remaining time I assisted recovering human remains from hospitals, nursing homes and schools in New Orleans and St Bernard Parish. In New Orleans we recovered 48 victims at Memorial Hospital, mainly elders.

Many responders to the disaster, such as myself, are still coming up for air. At the same time, the aftermath of Katrina—both the long recovery process and our analyses of the event—has only just begun. And while it is too soon to come to any conclusions about the role of anthropology in responding to the hurricane, one thing is obvious: anthropologists will continue to become an increasingly important part of major disaster recovery operations.