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ISSUE 16 Jan-Mar / 2013

“The poor and their deadly business”

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Mr. Dieu lives in Tan Duc 1 Village,

a mountanous area of Quang Binh

Province. Seven years ago, he was

the only survivor of a an explosion

caused by UXO which killed four of

his cousins;

With sadness on his face, Mr. Dieu

recalls the day of the accident: “Me

and my cousins woke up very early

that day. We searched along the

riverbank several times and just

found about 10kg of iron. Then we

moved to Reeng cave to search for

more. Using my homemade

detector, I found many long and

clear signals there. I called my

cousins to dig that area and I

myself moved to other areas to

continue searching. Suddenly,

there was a big bang and I went

unconscious. Later people told

me that my cousins were all

killed and their bodies were torn

apart so they had to pick each

small piece and placed them into

four coffins.”

Mr. Dieu continued with tears

streaming down on his face: “My

ears were bleeding for one month

after the accident. From that time,

whenever I saw a detector, I felt

shocked. I am scared of the blast

and so so scared of losing my

family again.”

The houses in Tan Duc 1 village

are scattered between narrow

valleys surrounded by the hills.

The people here survive on

farming and forestry. However

MAG’s work in Vietnam is made possible through the generous support of the following current donors

Above 1:

the farming land allocated for a

person is very limited, so the

villagers have to do other jobs to

have an income after the harvest –

scrap metal collection is often a

profitable option.

Mr. Dinh Van Hung, another victim

of the accident used to be a teacher

at the secondary school. He was

his mother’s pride and joy who

spent her whole life bringing up her

kids after her husband died in the

war. It was during the school

summer holiday that he went with

his cousins searching for scrap

metal and never came back. Three

years have gone by, but it is not

long enough to heal his mother’s

pain. The sight of her son’s photos

still brings her to tears.

News Roundup

* MAG CEO Nick Roseveare and

Trustee Vanessa Forbes visited

Vietnam Programme in January.

* MAG Vietnam hosted two visitors

from US Dept Of State, Weapons

Removal and Abatement (WRA) –

Emma Atkinson and Tom Kodiak –

during the quarter.

* Having said farewell to departing PO,

Greg Secomb in the last quarter, MAG

Vietnam welcomed new PO, Chris

Elliott

Above 1: Mr. Dieu and his homemade detector

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ISSUE 14 APRIL-JUNE 2012

“The poor and their deadly business” (cont…)

The families of the other three victims are also in a

very bad situation, since they used to be the

breadwinners for their families. These victims of

the deadly scrap metal trade have left behind

wives with no employment, and small children with

no opportunities to go to school.

“When I visited the families of the bomb victims

and witnessed their loss and pain caused by the

UXO accidents, I feel more proud of the job I am

doing for MAG. We will continue our mission

“saves lives, build futures” to stop the repetition of

the accidents that killed Mr. Dieu’s cousins”,

proudly shared Ms. Mai Thi Le Huyen, Community

Liaison Assistant of MAG Vietnam.

Continued danger of UXO in Quang Nam

Mrs. Nguyet herself also suffers from injuries

as the result of the war. “There are still many

shrapnels inside my body that put me in

terrible pain whenever the weather changes.

The war was so fierce; people were killed and

houses were burnt every day. I used to think

nobody would survive”, she added.

The war ended but the peace was also a

struggle to Mrs. Nguyet. She and her husband

strove to find food for their children. At the

most difficult time, her husband died; she had

to fight against the life’s problems alone. She

said: “I had to work on bare hills and every

day I saw so many unexploded ordnances on

the ground. But thinking of my hungry kids, I

had to take risk with my life.”

The village is still very poor, and most people

survive on subsistence agriculture. After

harvest, they have to find ways to support

their family and trading scrap metal from UXO

which still scatter the landscape is often an

attractive option. People use very simple

home-made detectors to search for scrap

metal, and unsurprisingly UXO accidents are

not something unusual here. Mrs. Nguyet took

us to Mr. Ba Sem’s house, about 50m from

hers.

ISSUE 16 Jan-Mar / 2013

Above 3: Mrs. Nguyet showing the garden where she’s

found a bombie

Mrs. Bui Thi Nguyet (67) has lived her whole life in

Village 2, Binh Dinh Hac Commune, which is very

similar to many other villages of Thang Binh District

where explosive remnants of war are still posing a

huge threat to communities.

Mrs. Nguyet lives alone and earns some income from

running her very small grocery store. She started

telling us the story about her life: “The war has taken

so many important things away from me. My father

and brother were both killed in a bombardment when

they were very young. My grandfather also died of a

B52 bomb dropped on the shelter-pit where he was

hiding.”

Above 2: CLA Mai Thi Le Huyen interviewing

Mr. Hung’s mother

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ISSUE 14 APRIL-JUNE 2012

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She said: “Mr. Sem is trading scrap metal. There

is a big yard with a lot of unexploded ordnance

behind his house. MAG staff have taken some

recently but he’s got many more each day. We

still feel scared when living close.”

Then she pointed to the garden where a

dangerous area was marked and safely covered

by MAG two months ago. “Before I found that

bombie, I felt so nervous when I was sweeping

the rubbish near there. Luckily I didn’t hit it. But

the school is not far from here and the kids are

usually playing there after study. Now MAG has

identified it, I feel much relieved. I have MAG’s

number here and I will call MAG if I find any more

bombs.”

Above 4: The UXOs in Mr. Sem’s scrap yard

In the field with MAG

Above 5: Ants with the MAG team in Quang Binh

Continued UXO Danger in Quang Nam (cont...)

To learn more about MAG in

Vietnam and around the world, visit:

ISSUE 16 Jan-Mar / 2013

a pink Honda C90 moped. During the Vietnam War

the US flew 580,000 bombing missions over the

Trail, dropping over 2 million tonnes of ordnance,

much of that in Vietnam. Many of these bombs

didn't explode, and continue to kill, maim and hinder

development today.

During her visit to Quang Binh, Ants had the

opportunity to witness all types of MAG operations

and the pain still felt by the Vietnamese people from

the legacy of the war. Ants experienced many

emotions from her day with MAG, from admiration

of MAG’s work, and excitement when pressing the

detonation button to the sadness of seeing the

victims of UXO accidents which continue to this

day.

Ant’s described the level of contamination she

encountered when she went out with MAG teams in

her blog; “I’d been with MAG less than an hour ...

and could NOT believe what I had seen. However

much you read the statistics, however much people

tell you how bad it is, nothing prepares you for the

shock of how much [UXO] there actually is. It is

quite literally, everywhere.”

Ants Bolingbroke Kent, a TV producer and writer from

the UK, visited MAG Vietnam in Quang Binh Province

on 14th March. Ant’s was raising money and

awareness for the UXO problem in Vietnam, Laos and

Cambodia by travelling down the Ho Chi Minh Trail on

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ISSUE 13 JAN - MAR 2012

Donor Updates

US Department of State -­­ WRA

The first quarter of 2013 saw WRA teams remove

1,279 items of UXO by completing 1,338

Dangerous Area tasks, 56 EOD response tasks

and 28,050m2 of static site clearance. 2,512

household surveys were conducted to identify 833

Dangerous Areas.

In Quang Nam, the MAT completed 36 EOD tasks

and removed 120 items of UXO.

UK Aid

During the first three months of 2013, UK Aid teams

cleared 35,500 square metres of land, completed

1,970 Dangerous Area spot tasks, 290 EOD

Response tasks and removed a total of 2,848 UXO.

CL Teams conducted 2,923 household surveys that

identified 1,209 Dangerous Areas.

Irish Aid

1,297 items of UXO were removed, through the

completion of 219 Dangerous Area spot tasks and 8

EOD Response tasks. The CL Team conducted

1,684 household surveys and identified 152

Dangerous Areas.

Humanitarian Demining R&D

The Rockhound mulcher continued to support

mechanical vegetation clearance in Quang Binh

province. The Seppi Mulcher has been operational in

Quang Tri province. Combined, the two mulchers

have cleared 21,290 square metres of vegetation

saving 1,562 hours of manual clearance time.

FACTS & FIGURES

Programme Statistics: January to March 2013

✦ Square Metres Cleared:

107,708

✦ Number of Villages

worked in:

48

✦ Number of EOD

Response Tasks:

390

✦ Number of household

surveys:

7,119

✦ Number of UXO destroyed:

5,544

✦ Number of beneficiaries:

114,071

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MAG Vietnam, 202 B1 Van Phuc Diplomatic Compound, 298 Kim Ma, Hanoi, Vietnam

Tel/Fax: +84 (4)37262325 Email: vn.pco@maginternational.org