Trading in unexploded ordnance (UXO) as part of the country’s highly developed scrap metal industry is one of the leading causes of UXO-related accidents in Vietnam. To reduce this very real threat, MAG has been working closely with scrap metal traders to improve safety for them and the surrounding community.
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A deadly businessScrap metal collecting is a relatively lucrative activity for those willing to risk their lives. People use primitive detectors to hunt for scrap: normally what they find is harmless, but there’s always the risk it could be a deadly bomb. Millions of tonnes of ordnance were dropped on Vietnam between 1964 and 1973. It is estimated that up to a third did not detonate. As a result, unexploded ordnance (UXO) still contaminates the ground, affecting as much as 20 per cent of the country. Collecting war scrap is an illegal trade but, as in other South East Asian countries such as Lao PDR and Cambodia, poverty means that people do it as a way to earn a living. |
Nguyen Thi Lanh is a scrap metal trader in Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh, and explains how UXO affects her business and day-to-day living.
“My yard is the biggest one in the city and metal scraps are sold to us every day. We don’t have enough time to check everything and often UXO is mixed in with the batches we buy.
"Sometimes we didn’t even know that the items we were buying were dangerous. However, when we sell to the metal recycling factory any items of UXO will be rejected and we can be fined for selling it.”
The threat of a fine, and because she did not know what else to do with the UXO that had accumulated in her scrap yard, led Mrs Lanh to dig a hole in her garden to hide the dangerous items:
“I was so afraid of having the items in our garden, because they were a danger to my family. But, if we moved them to other areas the danger would be even bigger.”
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The scrap yard, from where more than 400 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) were cleared. |
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Mrs Nguyen Thi Lanh, owner of a scrap metal business in Dong Hoi City, with the MAG Community Liaison team. Top: MAG technicians sort through scrap metal to identify items of UXO. [Photos: MAG Vietnam] |
Mrs Lanh remained constantly frightened. “We live in a very populated area so I was concerned about the danger to our neighbours,” she explains.
“Also, I had to keep my children inside, as their curiosity might lead them to playing in the pit where the UXO was.”
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In March 2007, the presence of UXO in Mrs Lanh’s scrap yard was reported to MAG. During this first visit, 397 items were removed.
Since then, MAG Community Liaison teams have been regularly visiting Mrs Lanh, as well as other scrap yard owners, to assist in identifying UXO items.
In late-2009 a MAG team recovered, and safely disposed of, an additional 49 items. Mrs Lanh is thankful that MAG is able to come to assist in dealing with the dangerous items that come into her yard.
“The big hole with the UXO in it does not exist any longer. We feel so much happier because our business does not cause danger to our neighbours anymore. MAG deals with the UXO that comes into our scrap yard so quickly and restores our safety.”
24 March 2010
MAG would like to express its thanks to the following donors to its Vietnam operations: Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, U.S. Department of State; UK Department for International Development (DFID); Talisman Energy; Irish Aid; Jersey Overseas Aid Commission; Adopt-A-Minefield; Imperial Tobacco; NVESD. See Tags below for related articles.
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