The Thai Tsunami Victim Identification operation was the largest disaster victim identification operation in history, involving 3,679 unidentified victims from 41 countries, and police and forensic scientists from over 30 countries. This paper evaluates the DNA response to the 26 December 2004 South-East Asia Tsunami, measuring its impact at different stages of the operation. Only 15 identifications were established using DNA during the first 5 months, compared to 307 by fingerprints, 1,266 by dental, and 11 by physical analysis. Critical obstacles, such as available ante-mortem and post-mortem DNA profiles, data management challenges, and automated DNA matching issues were impeding the DNA response. Recognizing and resolving the key issues hindering DNA identification resulted in increased DNA identifications during the middle and late stages of the operation.

Consideration of victim demographics was crucial to understanding the impact of different identification methods during the operation. DNA identifications were found to be primarily dependent on victim age and nationality. A large proportion of children from all nations were identified by DNA (33% of 10 to 16 year olds, 43% of 5 to 9 year olds, and 73% of 0 to 4 year olds), while only 13% of total adult identifications were supported though DNA analysis. Similarly, while DNA identified only 2% of adults from Finland, France, Germany, and Sweden combined, DNA was responsible for 30% of Thai adult identifications. By 16 July 2008, 3,308 victims were identified: 799 (24%) by DNA, 1,337 (40%) by dental, 1,142 (35%) by fingerprint, and 30 (1%) by physical characteristics.