The central province of Quang Binh, one of the localities most affected by unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from the war, has benefited from UXO risk education, survey and clearance activities implemented by British non-governmental organisation Mines Advisory Group (MAG).
Nguyen Van Chien, a resident of Cu Nam commune, Bo Trach district, used to live and farm in a UXO polluted area. He said previously, due to a fear of accidents from UXO, his family could not dig soil deeply for farming.
Since MAG conducted bomb and mine clearance in Cu Nam, Chien and hundreds of other local households have had peace of mind to fully exploit the land for farming and enjoyed high economic production. In particular, in the 4,500sq.m garden of Chien’s family alone, eight cluster bombs were discovered and removed.
Cu Nam commune is not the only area benefitting from activities by MAG, which has been present in many areas dubbed as "bag of bombs and mines" to deal with UXO pollution and return safe land to locals.
Nguyen Thanh Ha, the manager of MAG Quang Binh project, said that the organisation has operated in Quang Binh since 2003 to deliver risk education and UXO clearance activities.
After more than 20 years, the project has successfully detected and deactivated more than 147,000 UXOs, and conducted 1,755 communications activities to prevent accidents from bombs and mines, said Ha.
Nguyen The Huy, Vice Director of the Quang Binh Department of External Affairs said that MAG activities have greatly contributed to raising public awareness of bomb and mine accident prevention and clearing land for local socio-economic development.
In the 2021-2025 period, MAG has invested more than 16.25 million USD in its project in Quang Binh with an aim of turning the locality in to a UXO-free area.
