MAG Helps Civilians Reclaim Their Fields in Vietnam
MAG (Mines Advisory Group), a non-political Nobel-Prize winning organization, has been clearing unexploded ordnance left from the Vietnam War (what SE Asians call the “American War”) for a dozen years. Since the cessation of hostilities in 1974, more than 100,000 innocent Vietnamese people, about half of whom are children, have been killed or injured by leftover bomblets (small cluster bombs spread by the hundreds by larger casing-shells that “carpet-bomb” acres at a time). About 30% of these bomblets (some 30,000,000 bomblets!) did not explode upon impact and now lay dormant in the soil – until they are hit by a plow or found by a metal recycler, or a child. In small Quang Nam Province alone, over 1,000 people have been killed or maimed since 2004 by these bomblets. The innocent lives lost, the real impact on how one can farm or develop, and the pervasive fear that permeates daily family life are all unintended consequences of decisions made two generations ago.
A MAG team digs for a metal item that set off the metal detector in a gridded field next to a village as a child passes by.
Clearing farmland to increase field-size, putting in a new water line, excavating to build a home or road or school – these desired community improvements are made far more complicated because of the risk to life and machinery. Such dangers significantly impact daily life and economic progress in much of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Clearing the UXOs is dangerous, tedious and expensive. Metal detector-trained technicians (with two on-site medical personnel per team – in case one is injured) are required to search every square foot of soil with detectors – up to 10 meters deep, thanks to soft soils and wartime cratering. The cost for such clearance is well beyond what any village can afford – thousands of dollars per acre. Organization like MAG are essential for training, organizing and clearing, as well as educating locals about what to do when such an object is found (kids are particularly attracted to some of the small, colorful, ball-shaped explosives). In the twelve years that MAG has been involved in Vietnam, they have cleared over 167,000 UXOs, 2500 land mines, and decontaminated 7.5 square km of land for farms and development. At that rate, it will still take over 100 years to complete the task.
Learn more about MAG’s Vietnam effort in MAG’s Spring newsletter, found at: www.maginternational.org/silo/files/spring-2012-newsletter–focus-on-vietnam.pdf
Information about MAG’s efforts around the world can be found at: www.maginternational.org. Donations, of course, are tax-deductible.