James:
I thought the article Dying and Death in a Collapse Situation, by Irish Eyes was a well written piece. As a funeral director I thought I would add my thoughts.
The article was very well written and had good working knowledge of the death and dying process. The point that I wanted to touch on is the fact that there is a stigma that dead bodies are extremely unsanitary. They may be and should be treated as such if you were to come upon a body that died of unknown causes. However, according to Ron Hast publisher Mortuary Management Magazine, if the person died of known or natural causes they are not anymore unsanitary than they were prior to passing. I agree with these statements as well as long as we are talking about a reasonable amount of time. The body should be washed and dressed appropriately and you do not need to be wearing a hazmat suit to do it.
Burial on your own property is legal (in my region) there are rules set out by law for this to take place. In the county where I live the rules state that burial should be 100 feet from a well, spring, stream or other water source and at least 25 feet inside your property line. Graves do not need to exceed four feet in depth the six foot depth is something conjured up in the movies and modern graves are dug at a four foot depth. I think that shooting for a 3 foot depth would be adequate if hand digging.
The grave should be marked as soon as possible. A person thinks that they will always know where the grave is, but it will return to its surroundings quicker than one might think. The rules and regulations that surround death and burial vary widely by state and even county. In a TEOTWAWKI setting what must be done must be done. Just keep a good record of everything. Record grave locations, date of death, time of death, journal the facts surrounding the death.
Get in touch with your local family owned funeral home. I’m sure they would be happy to give you some knowledge base to better prepare you in the event you need to use it. God Bless. – Tango Charlie