Abstract
Although it is a huge psychological burden for municipal employees to engage in mortuary operations, at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, courteous treatment of the bodies and sympathetic consideration by them for the bereaved families had a significant influence on the psychological recovery of the families. In mortuary operations the municipal employees have an important roles for taking care of the bereaved families. Keen awareness of their duties, being proud of their mission and achievement of comprehensive services to the families are supposed to be crucial factors that contribute to mitigating municipal employees’ psychological burdens and maintaining mental health of themselves. If they could prepare psychologically for the mortuary operations with adequate training programs in advance, it can be expected that further improvement in the quality of services to the families. The DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team) training program of Yokohama has a curriculum that covers almost all of these factors. The questionnaire after the training shows the participants understood enough about the significance of mortuary operations and mental attitude. Thus, the DMORT training program can contribute that the dedication to the missions results in municipal employees’ mental stability and is effective to avert their traumatic stresses under disastrous situations.
