[StBernard] Pair Helps Body Recovery Assistance

[Westley Annis]

Pair Helps Body Recovery Assistance 

December 3 , 2005

By: Steve Cannizaro


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Pair find personal satisfaction in task of hurricane body recovery; derive
feeling of helping others

Megan Griffiths, an embalmer from Nottingham, England, says she has had a 
"life-changing experience'' through her work in body recovery operations in 
St. Bernard Parish in the months since Hurricane Katrina devastated the 
parish, killing 126.

Griffiths, working her first disaster, said she has gotten "a sense of 
helping others, of doing your little bit to make a difference.''

By contrast, Don Banks of Clearwater, Fla., has worked in body recovery at 
numerous disaster scenes since 1979, including the 2001 terrorist attack at 
the World Trade Center in New York City.

He said he does it for "humanitarian reasons,'' because the work helps give 
closure to relatives of victims.

Together, Banks and Griffiths operate as Global Disaster Management and have

been in St. Bernard since immediately after the hurricane.

They continue to follow-up on calls about missing people, currently going to

some 200 addresses in the parish.

Griffiths' British accent has made her stand out among the numerous people 
involved in the hurricane relief effort in St. Bernard.

She has been an embalmer for 12 years but "I've never worked away from 
home'' before and is in the United States for only the second time, she 
said.

Griffiths said she has been touched by the scene of devastation in St. 
Bernard and the reaction of residents in trying to put their lives back 
together.

"It's been heart-warming to see how they can still smile and be optimistic''

about the future, Griffiths said. "I have met fantastic people here.''

Banks said Hurricane Katrina has been one of the more widespread disasters 
he has ever dealt with because the devastation covered so large an area. The

New York terrorist attack, while killing more people, was confined to a 
relatively small area of the city, Banks said, while the damage to St. 
Bernard and other Louisiana parishes and Mississippi counties have affected 
the lives of so many people.

Banks also said working in the recovery of victims bodies makes someone 
"more humble'' and "you appreciate what you have in life.''

He said anyone with information about people who are still missing in St. 
Bernard Parish can call 1- 727-687-7289.