A summer day in 2000 and Ho Van Lai,aged 10, and three other friends were playing a game on a quiet sandybeach near their home in Cua Viet town in the central province ofQuang Tri . But, a minute later a huge bang cut the children’s gameshort.
The noise was the sound of an unexploded landmine going off, after beinghidden silently underneath the beach for years after the American warin Vietnam .
Lai lost both his legs and his right arm as well as his right eye andhad so many other severe wounds that he now depends on his parents helpfor virtually everything. That day, Lai, however, was luckier than twoof his playmates as they died immediately in the explosion.
Four years after the accident, Lai was able to return to school toresume his studies. Now, aged 20 and a 10 th grade student, he hastaken an active part in raising local people’s awareness of the dangerof landmines.
As only one of thousands of survivors that bear the legacy of landminesand unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from the war, Lai told his storyin a talk show which was broadcast live on VTC14 and several other TVchannels on April 4, which marks International Mine Awareness andAssistance Day as declared by the UN General Assembly on December 2005.
Although not a direct victim of landmines, La Thi Tam, the People’sArmed Forces Hero, was also on the talk show, recalling her assignmentof recording the numbers of landmines and UXO left during the war toshow how dangerous these weapons are.
In the 1967-68 period, Tam was posted at the Dong Loc T-junction in thecentral province of Ha Tinh with the job of counting the number ofunexploded landmines, bombs and UXO dropped by US aircraft and thenmarking their positions on the ground for sappers to defuse them.
For nearly 200 days and nights on one of the fiercest battlefields ofthe war, Tam said she marked as many as 1,205 unexploded bombs. However,she admitted that she could not record the full number of all the minesand UXO dropped on the area she was responsible for.
Tam’s figures became even more significant when Major General Duong DucHoa, Commander of the Corps of Engineers, which is in charge of clearingUXO, explained that the US dropped up to 15 million tonnes of bombs,mines and explosives on Vietnam during the war, 800,000 tonnes of whichare believed to remain unexploded.
He cited the preliminary results of a survey conducted in 2001 sayingthat up to 6.6 million hectares of land, or 20.12 percent of thecountry’s land mass and 90 percent of all landmine-contaminated communesnationwide, still contain UXO.
Even now the war has finished, bombs and mines are still taking a heavytoll on human life. To date, over 100,000 people in Vietnam have fallenvictim to UXO and landmines, of which 42,000 have died.
In Quang Tri province alone, one in every five persons has fallen victimto landmines and UXO, a higher rate than in other countries that arealso contaminated with bombs and mines, said Major General Hoa.
To address the landmine issue and support landmine victims, many areasand districts have worked out their own action plans and integrated theminto the national plan, but much remains to be done.
“Even with investment and a lot of effort put in over the past 35 years,just 9-12 percent of landmine-contaminated land has now been cleared,”stated the Major General.
“However, it will take us hundreds of years and require us to spenddozens of billions of USD to clear all the unexploded bombs andlandmines that lie undiscovered in the country,” the officialemphasised.
To tackle the root cause of the landmine issue, Christophe Bahuet, theUNDP’s Vice Director in Vietnam, said that the country needs to urgentlyput together a national action plan to deal with the aftermath oflandmines, work out a national coordinating mechanism and an action planfor the longer term, from between 5-10 years, as well as introducingaction plans alongside socio-economic development plans, both on a localand central scale.
The fight against the landmines still scattered over many parts of thecountry was being given due attention by the State, the talk show heard.
Also present at the event was the Deputy Minister of Labour, WarInvalids and Social Affairs, who revealed that his ministry hascompleted the gathering of opinions for a draft national action plan onovercoming UXO which will soon be submitted to the Prime Minister forapproval.
The draft action plan sets out specific tasks, and includes producing amap that identifies the location of known areas infested with UXO,establishing a national database on landmine concentrations andcasualties, introducing an educational programme to provide guide topeople on how to avoid landmine accidents and outlining programmes tosupport the survivors of landmine detonations.
During the talk show, Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan presented ascholarship worth 5 million VND to Ho Van Lai. As many as 550wheel-chairs and 80 million VND were also donated to landmine victimswhile the talk shows organising board presented 50 boxes of gifts tovictims in the central provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Tri.
Along with Vietnam , more than 70 other countries around the worldare also affected to some extent by landmines and UXO./.
The noise was the sound of an unexploded landmine going off, after beinghidden silently underneath the beach for years after the American warin Vietnam .
Lai lost both his legs and his right arm as well as his right eye andhad so many other severe wounds that he now depends on his parents helpfor virtually everything. That day, Lai, however, was luckier than twoof his playmates as they died immediately in the explosion.
Four years after the accident, Lai was able to return to school toresume his studies. Now, aged 20 and a 10 th grade student, he hastaken an active part in raising local people’s awareness of the dangerof landmines.
As only one of thousands of survivors that bear the legacy of landminesand unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from the war, Lai told his storyin a talk show which was broadcast live on VTC14 and several other TVchannels on April 4, which marks International Mine Awareness andAssistance Day as declared by the UN General Assembly on December 2005.
Although not a direct victim of landmines, La Thi Tam, the People’sArmed Forces Hero, was also on the talk show, recalling her assignmentof recording the numbers of landmines and UXO left during the war toshow how dangerous these weapons are.
In the 1967-68 period, Tam was posted at the Dong Loc T-junction in thecentral province of Ha Tinh with the job of counting the number ofunexploded landmines, bombs and UXO dropped by US aircraft and thenmarking their positions on the ground for sappers to defuse them.
For nearly 200 days and nights on one of the fiercest battlefields ofthe war, Tam said she marked as many as 1,205 unexploded bombs. However,she admitted that she could not record the full number of all the minesand UXO dropped on the area she was responsible for.
Tam’s figures became even more significant when Major General Duong DucHoa, Commander of the Corps of Engineers, which is in charge of clearingUXO, explained that the US dropped up to 15 million tonnes of bombs,mines and explosives on Vietnam during the war, 800,000 tonnes of whichare believed to remain unexploded.
He cited the preliminary results of a survey conducted in 2001 sayingthat up to 6.6 million hectares of land, or 20.12 percent of thecountry’s land mass and 90 percent of all landmine-contaminated communesnationwide, still contain UXO.
Even now the war has finished, bombs and mines are still taking a heavytoll on human life. To date, over 100,000 people in Vietnam have fallenvictim to UXO and landmines, of which 42,000 have died.
In Quang Tri province alone, one in every five persons has fallen victimto landmines and UXO, a higher rate than in other countries that arealso contaminated with bombs and mines, said Major General Hoa.
To address the landmine issue and support landmine victims, many areasand districts have worked out their own action plans and integrated theminto the national plan, but much remains to be done.
“Even with investment and a lot of effort put in over the past 35 years,just 9-12 percent of landmine-contaminated land has now been cleared,”stated the Major General.
“However, it will take us hundreds of years and require us to spenddozens of billions of USD to clear all the unexploded bombs andlandmines that lie undiscovered in the country,” the officialemphasised.
To tackle the root cause of the landmine issue, Christophe Bahuet, theUNDP’s Vice Director in Vietnam, said that the country needs to urgentlyput together a national action plan to deal with the aftermath oflandmines, work out a national coordinating mechanism and an action planfor the longer term, from between 5-10 years, as well as introducingaction plans alongside socio-economic development plans, both on a localand central scale.
The fight against the landmines still scattered over many parts of thecountry was being given due attention by the State, the talk show heard.
Also present at the event was the Deputy Minister of Labour, WarInvalids and Social Affairs, who revealed that his ministry hascompleted the gathering of opinions for a draft national action plan onovercoming UXO which will soon be submitted to the Prime Minister forapproval.
The draft action plan sets out specific tasks, and includes producing amap that identifies the location of known areas infested with UXO,establishing a national database on landmine concentrations andcasualties, introducing an educational programme to provide guide topeople on how to avoid landmine accidents and outlining programmes tosupport the survivors of landmine detonations.
During the talk show, Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan presented ascholarship worth 5 million VND to Ho Van Lai. As many as 550wheel-chairs and 80 million VND were also donated to landmine victimswhile the talk shows organising board presented 50 boxes of gifts tovictims in the central provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Tri.
Along with Vietnam , more than 70 other countries around the worldare also affected to some extent by landmines and UXO./.
