Although the flow of bodies into Cook County Morgue finally slowed to a trickle Tuesday, 120 corpses still await autopsies. With all 222 bays filled, morgue officials over the weekend had to call in refrigeration trucks to handle the overflow of bodies, most of them of elderly

The city has begun to investigate how well the heat emergency was handled. The State of Illinois’s legislative committee has also scheduled hearings on the disaster.

We are assessing what we have done and what more could have been done, said Jim Williams, Mayor Richard M. Daley’s press secretary. The mayor is terribly concerned and upset about this tragedy. As far as all the criticism, it is expected.

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There was no shortage of it.

Senior groups criticized the police. The mayor’s office was criticized for being unprepared for a heat emergency and city officials were singled out for failing to check on the elderly door-to-door.

The death toll underscored the vulnerability of elderly people who often live in relative anonymity in large urban centers. Chicago, for example, has more than 443,000 residents over the age of 60 and 800 city employees charged with keeping tabs on them.

High temperature and humidity in and of themselves pose a danger to senior citizens.

But the threat to many seniors is magnified because they live alone, stay inside because of fear of crime and do not have air conditioners.

Senior citizen groups demanded to know why the 50-person city police unit dedicated to elderly issues was not out in force during the heat wave.

Four months ago we were told that unit was operational, said James Thindwa, an organizer at Metro Seniors in Action, a group active on issues of crime against seniors and senior safety. There was no evidence of any action by the unit this weekend, no response at all that was visible.

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The Chicago police department did not return three phone calls.

Aldermen and the media focused on the scanty 1 1/2 page city plan for a heat disaster. By comparison, Chicago has a detailed, eight-page

see CHICAGO, page 5