Stories on how sappers defuse large unexploded bombs left over from thewar and how the life goes on for wives having their sapper husbandskilled while duty have touched the hearts of participants at an exchangeprogramme held in Hanoi on March 31.
A programme, in response tothe International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action(April 4), highlighted the efforts to clean the land contaminated withunexploded ordnance (UXO) to enable residents to live peacefully.
Addressingthe event, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan stressed thatalthough the war ended for more than 37 years, its consequences is stillscattering across the country.
More than 20 percent of the landhas still been contaminated with bombs and mines and over 100,000people, mostly children and breadwinners, have been killed or injured,he added.
Trillions of dong were spent on mineclearance, treatment of victims, and dealing with direct and indirectaftermaths of UXO, but there are a lot of work needed to do, theGovernment leader noted.
The State SteeringCommittee of the National Action Programme on Settling Consequences ofUnexploded Ordnance (known as Steering Committee 504) has over the pastthree years completed a technology criteria to guide UXO clearance andmapped UXO in 49 provinces and cities nationwide.
To clear all the left UXO and help local people living in thecontaminated areas resettle, it will take the country hundreds of yearsand cost billions of USD, Nhan reminded the participants.
He tookthe occasion to call for organisations and individuals in and outsidethe country to join hands to surmount the consequences of UXO.-VNA
A programme, in response tothe International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action(April 4), highlighted the efforts to clean the land contaminated withunexploded ordnance (UXO) to enable residents to live peacefully.
Addressingthe event, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan stressed thatalthough the war ended for more than 37 years, its consequences is stillscattering across the country.
More than 20 percent of the landhas still been contaminated with bombs and mines and over 100,000people, mostly children and breadwinners, have been killed or injured,he added.
Trillions of dong were spent on mineclearance, treatment of victims, and dealing with direct and indirectaftermaths of UXO, but there are a lot of work needed to do, theGovernment leader noted.
The State SteeringCommittee of the National Action Programme on Settling Consequences ofUnexploded Ordnance (known as Steering Committee 504) has over the pastthree years completed a technology criteria to guide UXO clearance andmapped UXO in 49 provinces and cities nationwide.
To clear all the left UXO and help local people living in thecontaminated areas resettle, it will take the country hundreds of yearsand cost billions of USD, Nhan reminded the participants.
He tookthe occasion to call for organisations and individuals in and outsidethe country to join hands to surmount the consequences of UXO.-VNA
