Friday, December 28, 2018

A day in the life of a PeaceTrees deminer




From a PeaceTrees email:

PeaceTrees Vietnam’s core work is sponsoring the clearance of landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Quang Tri Province in central Vietnam. Quang Tri was once dissected by the DMZ, and it continues to be heavily impacted by the legacy of war. In Quang Tri, which is slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island, a startling 1.6 times more explosive weapons were dropped than in all of Europe during World War II.
Today, more than 40 years after the end of the war, 74 percent of the land in Quang Tri province remains riddled with land mines, bombs, grenades, and other unexploded ordnance. Since 1975, at least 105,023 landmine and UXO casualties have been reported in Vietnam.
Six PeaceTrees explosive ordnance disposal teams work throughout the year clearing UXO from fields, schoolyards, roadsides and gardens. Our deminers, like Khuyen, whose story is featured in the video above, work to ensure that the members of their communities feel safe walking to and from work and when tilling their fields. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such incredible work, I had no idea this was a continuing effort. Thank you for posting this.

37paddington said...

So many years later, and the legacy of violence lingers. I will never be able to wrap my mind around war.