Canvas was used when coffins ran out during the 1918 pandemic, but this time body bags would be used instead. Picture / Reuters

Canvas was used when coffins ran out during the 1918 pandemic, but this time body bags would be used instead. Picture / Reuters

The dead are unlikely to be cremated during a bird flu pandemic, and body bags will be used if caskets run out.

A draft plan is being finalised this week by the Funeral Directors Association, Government agencies and local authorities to deal with the projected number of casualties.

It will see a prohibition on public funerals in a bid to curb the spread of disease.

Simon Manning, the association's chairman of pandemic planning, said no church services or tangi will take place, as public funerals were a factor in Spanish flu's spread in 1918. Grieving will instead take place in the home.

Any death during a pandemic - bird flu or not - would be dealt with within 48 hours, said Mr Manning.

New Zealand does not have enough freezing capacity to deal with a projected 33,000 deaths, so the 48-hour period allows for bodies to be handled safely and interred without refrigeration.

Mr Manning said cremation is unlikely because two doctors are required to sign off the cremation papers; one of which will need to be the deceased's doctor.

During a widespread pandemic, locating them may prove difficult, he said.

The police may also need to disinter the body where suspicious circumstances arise after the pandemic, he said.

There are also question marks around the supply of piped gas to crematoriums.

The association has approached the Government about providing funeral grants worth about $4500 to cover the cost of each burial.

"It will be unreasonable, we believe, for families to be ending up with a bill for something that they haven't necessarily requested," said Mr Manning.

While cemeteries have the capacity, there may not be enough caskets for all bodies.

In 1918, canvas was used to wrap the dead when caskets ran out. Mr Manning said body bags, which are more sanitary and easier to handle, would be used.

Funeral Directors Association members, which look after 85 per cent of deaths in New Zealand, have also been told to train extra staff over the next 12 months.

Members have been told to calculate the workforce needed for their own companies based on projected workload and a 60 per cent absenteeism rate.