Since the Vietnam war ended in 1975, bombs, landmines, and other unexploded ordnance has caused 10,529 deaths and 12,231 injuries and today they still remain, scattered across 35 percent of the land in six central provinces, according to a project jointly carried out by Vietnamese and American agencies.

The project was implemented in the heavily-affected provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai, by the Technology Centre for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN) of the Engineering Command of the National Defence Ministry and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) to survey and assess the impact of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from the Vietnam war.

The results were announced at a conference in Hanoi on July 31. Attending the event were Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Huy Hieu - who is also Deputy Defence Minister, US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Allaster Cox, and representatives of other embassies in Vietnam , non-governmental organisations, and relevant Vietnamese ministries and agencies.

The survey found that the US troops used more than 15 million tonnes of bombs during the war in Vietnam , about 5 percent of which remain unexploded, continuing to cause fatalities and injuries to those living in affected areas.

It also revealed that over the past five years UXO has taken the lives of 437 people and injured 489 others in the surveyed provinces, naming Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces as suffering the heaviest casualty toll, with 6,760 and 5,847, respectively, since the war’s end.

BOMICEN has estimated that by 2000 in Vietnam , 42,135 people were killed and 62,163 injured because of UXO, since 1964 for the North and 1975 for the South.

According to Colonel Phan Duc Tuan, Vice Commander of the Engineering Command and VVAF Resident Representative Nguyen Thu Thao, the BOMICEN-VVAF partnered project was conducted from February 2004 to December 2008 and used US military data recording air raids during the war.

The project officers interviewed more than 33,000 people living in 1,361 communes and wards in the six surveyed provinces to make a digital map that identified the location of known UXO infested areas, the levels of UXO at those sites, and the impact on communities’ socio-economic activities.

During the survey process, BOMICEN and VVAF also worked together to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance in an area of 1,358 ha, defusing up to 24,018 pieces of ordnance.

BOMICEN Director Colonel Nguyen Trong Canh said at the end of the project the Prime Minister had agreed upon a plan to conduct a nationwide survey on the socio-economic impact of landmine contamination.

He said he expects to receive more support from other countries, international organisations and non-governmental organisations for landmine clearance operations in Vietnam .

Speaking at the event, US Ambassador Michael Michalak said these survey results will provide Vietnam and its donors essential information on the impact of UXO on communities.

He also noted that the US Government has encouraged Vietnam to soon build a national strategy for dealing with the difficult and complicated problems left over from the war.

VVAF has provided more than 1.9 million USD for the project, which has a total committed budget of over 2.2 million USD./.