Denmark’s non-governmental organization DDG is providing a non-refundable aid of nearly $1.29 million for phase II of a project on searching for and settling unexploded ordnance (UXO) in central Quang Tri province. This project, recently been approved the Prime Minister, is scheduled to be implemented in 28 months, from September 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018. It aims to minimize UXO’s risks and negative impacts on the local community by searching for and clearing unexploded bombs, landmines and ordnance. About 800,000 tones of UXO are scattered across 6.6 million hectares or 20.12% of Vietnam’s land, mainly in the central region, according to the State Steering Committee for the national action program on settling post-war bomb and landmine impacts. The US army used more than 15 million tonnes of bombs and mines in the war in Vietnam, four times the amount used in World War II. As a result, Vietnam has been listed among the countries most contaminated with UXO. UXO claimed 42,135 lives and injured 62,163 others from 1975 to 2000. Vietnam has spent tens of millions of dollar every year on UXO clearance and providing vocational training to and resettling UXO victims. (VietnamNet Dec 1)
