5 Cities that are Running out of Grave Space

There is a looming problem in many parts of the world over what to do with dead bodies as pressure on grave space intensifies. Contrary to the common perception, this issue is much more serious in privileged and advanced places. Following is a list of 5 cities that are running out of grave space, rapidly.  

Hong Kong

Hong Kong has always been a bustling city with trade and popular tourist attractions. As a result, the population has climbed to a steady 7.4 million residents. While this adds to the excitement of the city, it does not leave much room for residents who wish to reside in the city after death. Hong Kong has been plagued with grave space issue since the 1980s. The city’s hillsides were used as burial space and since then, those locations have proved to be inadequate.

Family members can pay upward of $30,000 for a private grave at Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O cemetery because of the limited space. Despite that, descendants are so willing to accommodate the final wishes of their loved ones that they pay this massive sum of money. On the other hand, those who wish for a public burial vault may have to wait for up to 5 years for the cremated remains to be buried.

New York

New York is the largest city in the United States and its dense population is making it hard to find places to bury the deceased. But soon enough, these cemeteries will no longer serve as places where reverence of the past meets nostalgia for those who just walked among us. Instead, they will serve as relics of an increasingly distant past as the gravestone dates fail to keep up with the present. For example, those living in Manhattan have the Trinity Church Cemetery as the only option as a resting place after death. Cemetery management has begun to dig new graves perpendicular to the road and old graves to use up every last inch of burial space available. At Canarsie Cemetery, located in Brooklyn, management plans to build a whole new ‘town’ of mausoleums to accommodate the steady demand for burial sites.

London

London has been facing a shortage of grave space for quite some time. The severity of the situation can be judged by the fact that many boroughs have actually stopped offering burial services. For example, Tower Hamlets has not had any new burials since 1966. Many cemeteries have considered recycling old graves to make room for new ones. In 2017, Parliament passed a law that allows cemeteries to legally reclaim and reuse these graves. While this did cause many to oppose the very notion, notices are put on graves 6 months prior to excavation. Only graves that are 75 years or older are exhumed. For many Londoners, this decision comes down to the preservation of family history or the preservation of vital green space.

Australia

A controversial Australian 2018 law stated that relatives of the deceased could rent burial plots for 25–99-year periods. Once the leases are up, if the relatives cannot be reached or do not contact the cemetery within two years of lease expiration, then the cemetery is legally allowed to reclaim the graves by exhuming the bodies and moving the bones to a communal ossuary. Another less controversial but less common option is that of a natural ‘green’ burial in Bunurong Memorial Park, a cemetery near Dandenong. Within the park lies Murrun Naroon, or ‘Life Spirit’—a heavily wooded area set aside for natural burials without coffins or headstones. The ‘green’ burial refers to a body being wrapped in a decomposable material with a plastic GPS tracker attached to it. Over time, the body and the shroud decays but the tracker remains, thus effectively marking the locations of the deceased.

Tokyo

The cemeteries of Tokyo have been combating limited grave space for two generations. In the 1970s, Tokyo built its only locker cinerarium to preserve in-ground burial space. This type of burial is not common due to Japan’s long tradition of honoring ancestors in family burial spaces surrounding beautiful Buddhist temples. By mid-1960s, available burial space within Tokyo’s Buddhist temples was nonexistent. As a result, Tokyo’s inhabitants resorted to faraway gravesites, such as Kamakura and Mount Fuji. Ultimately, the Ruriden Columbarium was built. It allowed relatives of the deceased to access their loved one’s urns via an electric card.