MAG teams are currently working 12 hour days, clearing and safely destroying leftover unexploded weapons, including cluster bombs, mortars and rockets to support the wider humanitarian relief efforts and improve the safety of the civilian population.
From bases in Nabatieh and Tyre, expert technicians have been carrying out emergency clearance in twenty villages since the ceasefire was announced on Monday 14 August, and a total of 1,835 submunitions have been destroyed in less than two weeks.
MAG have introduced a priority system to ensure that the greatest risks to people's safety are cleared first - these include items found in and on inhabited houses and on roads and paths. The second priority is gardens and roadsides, with priority three being destroyed buildings that people want to rebuild and then fields so that communities can grow food and crops.
Sean Sutton, MAG's overseas information manager, is documenting the work and gathering information about the level of contamination. He says: "The scale of the task ahead is pretty overwhelming. There are literally thousands of unexploded munitions in and around the remains of people's homes and on the roads and streets. The teams are working flat out to clear the areas that most affect people's safety, but sadly we're not able to clear everything in time."
Earlier in the week, 12-year-old Sukna Maroi and two friends, Marwah and Hasan found a small, shiny object behind Hasan's grandfather's house. Hasan relates what happened: "Marwah picked up this metal thing and started playing with it. Sukna said it might be dangerous, so she threw it away. It hit the ground and blew up and we were all hurt."
The object was a cluster bomb that had failed to detonate when dropped. Sukna has severe abdominal injuries and it's not known if she will survive. She is in constant pain but, because of her blood pressure, she cannot be given any more pain killers. Ismail Said is one of the nurses looking after the children in Jabel Amel hospital, Tyre. She says: "We have finished the first war - now the second is just beginning."
Sutton concludes by saying: "There's been a lot of talk in the media about the use of cluster bombs in this conflict, but MAG is the only NGO taking action to clear and destroy them."
25 August 06
