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AUDIO: Listen now [www.theworld.org]
"When you have no money and no opportunity to make any, you’ll do just about anything to survive. That can include risking your life for a few dollars a day...."
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A tail fin from an aircraft-delivered bomb such as this could provide a valuable source of income for scrap collectors. But this activity is a deadly trade. |
PRI's The World [www.theworld.org] reports from Khammouane Province on the deadly business of scrap metal collection in Lao PDR, where the scrap often consists of unexploded bombs left over from the American-Vietnam War.
With at least two million tonnes of ordnance dropped on the country during the 1963-1974 conflict, Lao PDR is the most bombed country on earth per capita.
It is estimated that up to 30 per cent of ordnance did not detonate. As a result, unexploded ordnance still contaminates rural areas in half the country, killing, injuring and keeping people in poverty by preventing them from using land.
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“People make a choice between being able to support their family or not," says Tom Morgan, MAG's Regional Information Officer in Southeast Asia, in The World's audio broadcast. "And if the only choice they have is being involved in the scrap metal trade that’s what they’ll do, even though they know there are risks involved.
“The sad truth is that while people can get away with it for a certain period of time, in the end they will die carrying on those activities."
- Listen to the full report
- VIDEO: Legacy of war
- AUDIO: BBC Radio World Service - 'Bomb Hunters'
- Download the latest MAGazine from Lao PDR
Links:
- Why does MAG work in Lao PDR?
- MAG Lao PDR microsite – find out more about MAG's work in the country
- Donate to MAG online – more than 90 per cent of MAG's income is spent directly on clearance programmes
- Other ways to Get Involved – shop, run, walk, skydive, drink wine...
- Click on Tags below for related articles
3 September 09
MAG's work in Lao PDR is supported by: DFID (UK
Department for International Development); European Commission; The Humpty Dumpty
Institute; Irish Aid; USDA (United States Department of Agriculture); US Department of State.
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