PANO – In response to the national mine action program in the 2010-2025 period (or Program 504) inked by the Prime Minister, the whole political system and international organizations are joining hands to overcome the consequences of post-war bombs and mines.

Statistics of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs showed that, since 1975, around 6.6 million hectares of land in Vietnam, equivalent to over 21 per cent of the country’s total area, are polluted by 800,000 tons of landmines/unexploded ordnance (UXOs), excluding those under the sea bed, taking the lives of more than 40,000 civilians and injuring 60,000 others.

Among the victims, nearly 22,800 are residents of 6 central provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai.

Director of Clear Path International (CPI) Vietnam Tran Hong Chi said that the landmines/UXOs left behind after the war have caused numerous difficulties and endangered the lives and property of local people, as most victims are of working-age or children.

The CPI reported that in 2009, a 14-year-old victim in Quang Tri province who had been seriously wounded by landmines/UXOs had to undergo a 4-month treatment in hospital at a cost of US$ 2,800, equivalent to a local family’s 3-year income (compared with the gross domestic product rate of the province at that time of US$ 800).

Ms. Truong Thi Nhu Hoa from the Da Nang city Social Work Service Centre said that due to landmine/UXO victims’ different health and living conditions, local vocational schools and businesses should give them appropriate training courses and jobs, especially in the work-study form, as they are all are facing economic difficulties. Apart from issuing policies and providing assistance, social activists should provide counselling to the victims’ families so that they could boost household economies to increase income.

Ms. Cao Thi Men, born in 1976 in My Trach commune, Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province, became paralysed at the age of 6 after being wounded by a cluster bomb.

In the 25 years elapsed since the accident, Men has never been out of her house and has had no contact with any one else except her younger sister and her husband. Many times Men attempted to put an end to her life due to her poor fate.

In 2005, staff members of the Association for Empowerment for Persons with Disability (AEPD) inquired after Men. However, it took the staff nearly 2 years to persuade Men to have a surgery to remove the pieces of the cluster bomb from her spine.

In May 2009, AEPD gave VND 6 million to Men for the construction of a new small house and taught her how to make palm-leaf conical hats and other handicraft items.

At present, from selling her unique and beautiful hand-made products, she now can pocket VND 1.5 million a month.

Translated by Van Hieu