The morbid dilemma

"...WHO's David Nabarro told CNN that survivors are at risk for diarrhea, respiratory infections and insect-borne diseases that could result in "quite high rates of death" but quickly added that the living are in more danger from other survivors than from the dead.
"The fundamental need at the moment is to look after the well-being of living people and to make sure that they have what they need for life," he said. "And the requirement to properly dispose of dead people through burial or some other method in a way that is appropriate for the local tradition is certainly there. But it's not urgent from the point of view of public health."

This is an important issue that came up even in Haiti when Hurricane Jeanne wreaked havoc leaving an estimated 1250 people dead. There was extreme concern that the situation could lead to an epidemic outbreak. And it is here that a morbid schism seemed to present itself. Officials in Haiti, including the president and the local UN officials believe that the large number of rotting corpses were the central danger and there was extreme haste to have mass burials of these bodies. But a WHO spokesperson in Geneva had criticised this as being a misled allocation of resources for the same reasons -- namely the misconception that undisposed corpses presented the most immediate public health hazard.

References:

1. Morgan O. Infectious disease risks from dead bodies following natural disasters. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2004;15(5):307–12.
   
2. WHO warns against health misconceptions in the wake of Turkish earthquake