Strategic plan to tackle UXO problem

Caption: 14-year-old Hoang Thi Thien had her right eye, chest, abdomen, and legs injured after a war-time bomb exploded in Quang Tri in 2007

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan to reduce the consequences of war-era unexploded ordnance (UXO) that has killed some 40,000 Vietnamese since the Vietnam War ended in April 1975.

The plan, comprised of six projects to be carried out through 2025, aims to remove UXO nationwide and improve the lives of UXO victims, according to a statement posted on the government website on April 23.

It also aims to mobilize “local forces” as well as call for international donors to join programs to reduce the impact of UXO, it said.

Surveys will be conducted in each of the nation’s 63 cities and provinces by 2013 to map the locations of UXO and propose a plan for the control. The initiative aims to remove all the explosives on around 1.3 million hectares, equal to 20 percent of the estimated UXO zones nationwide, by 2025.

The Ministry of Defense will coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology to draft the technical standards for UXO removal by next year, according to the statement.

The plan will also provide experts with additional training as well as equipment and technologies.

A data center will be set up to record UXO removals and related information while activities will also be implemented to improve people’s awareness of UXO to avoid further damages.

Chuck Searcy, country representative for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, said the plan is “a major step forward for Vietnam, clearly identifying the issue of landmines and unexploded ordnance as a national priority.”

“It brings greater commitment and attention to solving the problem, and it opens the door to stronger financial and technical support from other nations and international donors,” he told Thanh Nien Weekly.

POSTWAR KILLERS

The leftover bombs and mines used by the Americans in the Vietnam War have left fallow some 4,359 square kilometers of once-fertile soil, or 5.43 percent of the country’s total arable land, the Ministry of Defense said in 2003.

An August 2006 report by Clear Path International, an organization working to assist civilian victims of war, estimated that some 800,000 tons of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and mines were still present in nearly 7 million hectares of land, or about 20 percent of Vietnam.

The Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN) at the Ministry of Defense estimated in 2003 that UXO and landmines killed 1,110 people and injured 1,882 injured every year “on average.”