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Unexploded Ordnance 'May Take Centuries to Clear' in Vietnam
HANOI - At the current pace, it will take 300 years and more than $10 billion to clear Vietnam of left-over bombs, shells and mines, a humanitarian and economic scourge in parts of the country, a senior military officer said on Friday.
A demining team worker search for landmines in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Tri in 2006. Over a third of the land in six central Vietnamese provinces is lethally contaminated with unexploded bombs and land mines left over from the Vietnam War, a study has said. (AFP/File/Hoang Dinh Nam) With aid, the agency in charge of clearing unexploded ordnance estimated that only about half could be cleared by 2050, said Phan Duc Tuan, an army colonel and deputy head of the military's engineering command.
On Friday, the agency within the Vietnamese military that oversees clearance of unexploded ordnance and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation released a report detailing the problem in six central provinces that saw some of the heaviest fighting during the decade-long war with the United States.
The report said that since the war ended in 1975, bombs and mines had killed 10,529 people and injured 12,231 in the six provinces, which are situated near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that divided Communist North Vietnam from the U.S.-backed south.
Most of the casualties were men collecting scrap metal, farming or herding, the report found, but many children were also killed or injured playing with unexploded ordnance.
Tuan, whose command oversees the centre charged with clearing unexploded ordnance, said aside from the humanitarian toll, there was also a significant economic impact.
In 2008 alone it cost the government about $69.5 million to clear land for construction projects, he told a news conference.
Unexploded ordnance also hindered infrastructure projects and blocked access to natural resources, said the report, which offered the most detailed data to date on the problem in Vietnam.
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11 Comments so far
Show AllThis little known hangover from America's raping of Vietnam is tantamount to a war crime.
The US and culpable allies should be clearing these hidden killers.
(The Vietnamese may ironically be grateful no depleted uranium was used - as far as we know.)
Probably not depleted uranium, but plenty of agent orange. What a delightful Pandora's box the U.S. has at it's disposal, and for sale to sane zealots like zionists in Israel.
The French are still clearing ammo that didn't explode during the 14-18 war, of course all that ammo is in a relatively small area in France and not spread out over the whole country...
Here's a suggestion to clear some (just a tiny bit) of the bad karma accumulated by the U.S. with its bombing in Vietnam (and don't forget Laos!):
Shut down some of the weapons programs (there are enough nukes and missiles to smoke the entire planet many times over), close down some of the military bases. Then,
Make hundreds of mine-sweeping robots - I'm sure the same companies that make the advanced weaponry could easily develop such robots - if a production model already doesn't exist. I've seen some prototypes on TV, and I could never understand why these weren't mass produced. When technology exists for operating unmanned drones flying thousands of miles away, making reliable mine sweeping robots should be WELL within the capability of U.S. companies.
I'm talking literally hundreds of robots, get them made in China if necessary, so that the cost can be kept low and these robots can be made totally expendable. Or, make this project part of the stimulus package. Or whatever! If the robots blow up during mine sweeping and clearing, that's just part of the job. Hundreds of state-of-the-art mine sweeping robots - all totally expendable - and I think the mines can be cleared in short order. It's outrageous to be able to do the damage and destruction using machines (bombers, drones, etc.), but then require human beings to clean up the mess under great personal danger. Put machines to work.
That would work with some, but certainly not all. Some of the munitions it won't work with are things that are buried too deeply in the earth, the ones that are defective and will only go off when shaken or played with.
The sad economy of landmine clearing is that a robot would cost more than it would to pay for a human to do it. Yah, it's a risky job. Deadly. But you can get humans to do that sort of work, it's just a matter of paying them. Of course if you payed people to do that sort of thing, the money would be spent in Vietnam, Laos or wherever, and not on corporate interests in the usa...
what a great idea Alcyon! I'll bet Japan has already designed robots like that, but if not, well, you are so right, it is indeed possible. And possibly the second best thing about it is MARKETABLE! the military industrial complex can build new factories, create more jobs AND make money. What's not to like?
ya know we can think of so many good things to do, and then get all sad cause we know they won't happen. but this- this is all good.
Yet the "Good soldiers" that Served the War Machine of the United States of America HAD TO kill these Vietnamese, and pollute their country with Agent Orange and cluster bombs because those same Vietnamese were a threat to the Freedom of Americans to speak freely according to some that are "proud to SERVE"
Are Americans mostly Phyco's ? ? ? ? --- USA -USA - USA -- Support our Troops -- wear the "flag" ! ! !
America whose Christian Churches are visited weekly by 75 % of the American Population killed over 2,000,000 Vietnamese and left these Cluster Bombs all over and all that Agent Orange.
Then these Christian Americans invaded Iraq and again bombed innocent people's homes , used depleted uranium and caused over a million Iraqi deaths in yet another illegal US war of aggression.
Then shamelessly American propaganda cries out "they hate us for our freedom" and the other false patriotic cards that are played by the MSM to successfully reassure Americans that US soldiers died or are crippled in a noble cause ----
The USA can not face the fact that the US Military losses were all for lies.
Yes ---the American Military are all Psyco War Criminals.
Good Goddess- 10,000 people killed After the war?!
Everything about that damn war was and is and will forever be unforgivable- starting it, all that hideous bombing, agent orange, napalm. I knew there were too many mines, but did not know it was that bad. And if that is the case what can it be like in Cambodia and Laos?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't North Vietnam violate the terms of the 1973 peace accords by invading and conquering South Vietnam?