[Vision2020] Unexploded Munitions in Vietnam

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

"Left over bombs have killed nearly 40,000 Vietnamese and continue to take people’s lives."

Diligent sappers rid Quang Tri of unexploded ordnance

by Hoai Nam
Vietnam at Work, April 20, 2004

For 21 years, Pham Hong Bang, a military engineer has worked as a sapper, searching for and disarming bombs, landmines and munitions left over from Viet Nam’s wars.

He has spent the last six years clearing unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the central province of Quang Tri, an area heavily mined and bombed during the American war.

The 43-year-old soldier is head of an 11-member ordnance disposal team funded by an American INGO, Peace Trees Viet Nam (PTVN).

Last year, Bang and his co-workers disarmed 170 bombs, landmines and other UXO throughout Quang Tri.

It is believed that the province was subjected to 15 million bombs, mines, artillery shells and other kinds of munitions during the American War.

Left over bombs have killed nearly 40,000 Vietnamese and continue to take people’s lives.

Since 1998, the Quang Tri People’s Committee has worked with international organisations and INGOs including SODI/Gerbera from Germany, the Mines Advisory Group and Clear Path International from the UK and Peace Trees from the US.

Together they have cleared nearly 34,000 landmines and unexploded ordnance in the region.

A team stands ready to clear mines.

Quang Tri was the first province that the Government allowed local authorities to work together with INGOs to clear mines.

But Bang’s disposal team is the only one in the country composed wholly of Vietnamese staff members.

With little else but metal detectors, spades and safety jackets, the team travels by pick-up truck year round throughout the province searching for bombs and landmines.

When a mine is discovered the sappers dig a hole around it and sets off a controlled explosion.

"It used to take me nearly two hours to clear a mine but now it takes only 30 minutes," Bang said. "I’m most thrilled when we discovered unexploded bombs because they can destroy everything within 30m."

Bombs are destroyed using chemicals.

A high-risk job
A mine explodes in a field. — VNS Photos Hoai Nam

Although they face the danger of being killed everyday, the members of the team remain calm and consider theirs like any other job in the community.

"I joined the Army and chose to study mine disposal at the Provincial Military College because I wanted to help ease the pain of people who have suffered the consequences of war."

Though the war ended 30 years ago, unexploded ordnance still creates a very real danger to the people living in the province today.

"Dong Ha Town is usually quiet but blasts are sometimes triggered while people are farming or trying to salvage the metal casings and gunpowder from munitions to sell. Others deaths are the result of children unaware of the deadly nature of their newly found ‘toy,’" Bang said.

M79 grenades and steel-pellet bombs make up most of the unexploded ordnance found in Quang Tri.

"M79 grenades explode as soon as they are turned over and steel-pellet bombs look like children’s toys," said 31-year-old team member, Tran Nho Dung.

The team’s current metal detectors allow them only to find landmines or bombs 3m under ground. But there are many bombs buried 6m or deeper.

"If we had modern equipment, we could clear mines and bombs deep under ground to make the area even safer," Bang said.

"It’s peacetime now, but the work requires us to live like we are at war. We must camp near the place we are sweeping for landmines and bombs," said sapper Nguyen Ngoc Thang.

The team members cannot afford to make any mistakes. A small spade may be the best tool to clear landmines, but it means the sappers have to get very close to their deadly targets.

A helmet and breastplate offers some protection from serious injury to the face and body, but it does not protect the disposer’s limbs.

Only one team member has ever been injured. In 2002, while clearing a mine buried under a tree’s roots, the device exploded and the sapper lost a finger. Despite the injury, he still works clearing mines.

It is the knowledge that they are saving their neighbours lives that keep the men working despite the danger.

"I know many families in Quang Tri Province devastated by UXO. A father and his son died when a bomb that the father was sawing to salvage its metal casings and gunpowder for sale in Cam Lo district exploded," Bang said.

"The injuries and deaths from landmines and bombs urge me keeping going and clearing as many landmines as possible. I will not be able to clear all the UXO in Quang Tri, it will take the next generation to make that happen," he said.

PTVN spends US$65,000 annually clearing landmines and bombs and educating the community about UXO awareness.

"Each disposal team member is insured US$150 for a year. We still need the team need to expand to clear more mines and UXO on larger area," said PTVN representative, Le Dinh Quang.

There still remain many areas in Quang Tri Province where bombs, landmines and UXO have yet to be cleared. Luckily, the members of the PTVN disposal team are committed to keeping the lives of Quang Tri’s residents safe and peaceful. — VNS 
The War Goes On
Updated Tuesday March 07 2006
By: Allan R. Vosburgh, Golden West Humanitarian Foundation

By developing mine risk education and training materials specific to regions and countries, the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation tries to help prevent landmine casualties. Yet deaths and injuries from human interactions with explosive remnants of war continue to occur for many reasons.

Mr. Le Phi, 48, was killed instantly and his daughter seriously injured in June 2005 when, according to Clear Path International and Vietnamese officials, an 81-millimeter (3-inch) mortar exploded in Huong So commune of Hue city in central Vietnam. Le Phi, an ice-cream vendor and part-time scrap collector, was at home removing the explosive charge from the mortar with a large knife when the detonation occurred. His 16-year-old daughter was injured by mortar fragments while cleaning vegetables nearby.

Many believe 30 years of humanitarian demining efforts have drastically reduced threats to Vietnamese civilians from explosive remnants of war like the mortar projectile that killed Le Phi. The reality is that in many places in Southeast Asia, ERW casualties seem to be growing instead of decreasing due to population pressures, modernization and globalization.

Since the end of the American war1 in 1975 and cessation of hostilities with China in 1979, a number of organizations have worked hard to reduce the threats of unexploded ordnance and landmines in Vietnam. In April 1975, the Vietnamese military conducted a concerted clearance effort to allow internally displaced people access to formerly contested areas. The Vietnamese governmental demining organization,2 other military units, and a number of non-governmental and international organizations have been busy, especially in the central region of Vietnam.

Despite all these efforts, deaths and injuries from human interactions with ERW continue to occur. Vietnam is known as one of the most contaminated nations in the world, with explosive residue from wars with France, America and China littering the land. At the same time, Vietnam is a growing, vibrant nation with an expanding economy and a determination to modernize its infrastructure.