VIETNAM: How MAG works

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The problem

Between 1965 and 1973, 413,130 tons (4.1 million kilogrammes) of submunitions or “bombies”, as they're known locally, were dropped on Vietnam, striking 55 of the country's 64 provinces and cities¹.

These tennis-ball sized remnants of conflict still affect as much as 20 per cent of the total area of Vietnam, continuing to maim and kill.

Scrap metal collection is a dangerous occupation in a country like Vietnam, where unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination is widespread.

Big bomb cases like these are regularly seen at scrapyards in the central region. The owner of this scrapyard reported that he could sell each case like this for around US$50.

Le Thi Le, now 52, risked her life selling scrap metal that included UXO from 1991 to 1993.

“There was no such thing as living with danger in my mind. I just needed money so I rushed to dig for UXO with no hesitation"

Sixteen-month-old Ho Thi Tam had been sick and eaten nothing for a week. Her family did not have enough money to send her to the hospital.

They own land but UXO contamination meant they could  not use it to grow enough food and had to live on the US$4 per day Ho's mother earnt by collecting wood and rattan from the forest.

“When I was younger we would go to the forest to collect rattan and used to find really big bombs. We thought they were tigers and we ran fast back home.

“Later on we learnt that they were not tigers but bombs. This made us feel even more terrified.”

Mr Ho Van Thien, aged 80, Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province.

Some people risk their lives to gather UXO they find and move them to a 'safe' place.

MAG's response

MAG goes where the need is greatest, and that includes remote and isolated villages such as Rao Con village in Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province.

Ethnic minority populations in remote villages like this are particularly vulnerable to UXO- related accidents.

On the way to a remote village in Bo Trach district.

Rapid response.

After receiving a phone call from a  resident in Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province, MAG’s Community Liaison staff came to the village and followed him to investigate an item of UXO he found in his garden.

“What does it look like?”

By answering a simple question like this, a villager can help MAG teams to identify and clear a dangerous item.

Based on information provided by a local resident, MAG Community Liaison staff marks the suspected location of UXO in her cassava field.

This red cross is registered as a “dangerous area” and will be investigated by the technical teams to search and safely remove any items of UXO found.

One of 85 items of UXO found during emergency tasks in the village of Thuy Trung, Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province in June 2010.

Removing an item of UXO to a safe holding area. This item, along with hundreds of others, will be destroyed at a later time in a controlled demolition.

A controlled demolition – a reminder of the powerful devastation and destruction that UXO can cause.

Impact

This paddy field in Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province was cleared in 2005 after an UXO accident at this spot claimed the life of a young man.

Harvesting peanuts in Phong Nha village. The land from which the peanuts were produced is the biggest single site that MAG has cleared in Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province.

Fifty families are now using this land.

More than 250 items of UXO were found on this paddy field in Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province.

Le Thi Luong’s family is one of 15  cultivating the field following MAG’s clearance.

The sports field in Thai Xa, one of the poorest villages in Mai Thuy commune, Quang Binh province.

The field was cleared of left-over bombs by MAG in early 2010.

This is the first time that farmer  Nguyen Thi Thi has used a hoe on this patch of land.

Before her land was cleared by MAG, Nguyen never used the hoe for fear that she would strike an item of UXO.

The construction site of what will be the biggest pagoda complex in Quang Binh province.

An aerial bomb of almost 250kg and 60 rockets were found and removed from the site in late 2009.

This new rubber plantation has been established in An Xa village, Quang Tri province after MAG cleared the site and handed the land back to the community in 2009.

Dinh Viet Tri was very surprised that the soil here is so fertile and that his rubber trees are growing so fast. He is looking forward to the future income that the trees will provide for his family.

Children under the age of 14 account for about 25 per cent of the victims of UXO and landmine accidents in central Vietnam².

MAG cleared this paddy field five years ago, with an average of 20 to 30 items of UXO found per day. Ever since then families have been producing rice safely.