Removing unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the grounds of luxury hotels is not MAG’s everyday work. But the discovery of a cluster bomb submunition at the construction site of a new beach resort in Dong Hoi city, Quang Binh province, led to an emergency request to MAG to clear it.
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A member of MAG's Vietnam staff marks the cluster bomb subminition at the new beach resort. [Photos: MAG Vietnam] |
“MAG mainly clears UXO in order to benefit poor rural communities, but also responds to emergency tasks in the areas where it is working," said Hoang Thi Mai Chi, MAG’s Community Liaison Officer.
"In this instance, the deadly item was right on the surface and represented an immediate threat. It was immediately prioritised and destroyed in situ by a MAG team.”
The discovery was a reminder that, even though tourism is thriving, this area was once subject to intense bombing and any kind of infrastructure development may require UXO clearance in order to guarantee safety.
During the war, Dong Hoi city witnessed bloody battles due to its proximity to the 17th parallel and the DMZ. Within the city, Bao Ninh ward (where the resort is being constructed) is the most heavily UXO-contaminated area. The presence of a North Vietnamese Army food store, barracks and transport hub attracted devastating air bombardments.
Tourists themselves are extremely unlikely to encounter UXO, but for communities living in this part of Vietnam, a very real threat remains. Last year, as many as 340 items of UXO were found and cleared by MAG in this ward – all of them potentially lethal.
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The bomblet is prepared for demolition. |
Three post-war decades have now passed, and the area around Dong Hoi has become central to the province’s effort in promoting itself as a tourist destination.
The city is now part of the World Heritage Road, a national initiative taken to promote and develop tourism for this culturally and geographically rich area of central Vietnam.
“Cluster bomb submunitions are estimated to have claimed up to 50,000 casualties since the war ended,” said Jimmy Roodt, MAG Vietnam’s Country Programme Manager. “MAG is only too happy to destroy another of these deadly remnants of war.”
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10 March 09
MAG's work in Vietnam is supported by: DFID (UK Department for International Development); Imperial Tobacco; Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, US Department of State; Schonstedt/UN.
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