Quang Ngai Province (21 September 2018) – Project RENEW joined with Quang Tri Province Legacy of War Coordination Center (LWCC) and Quang Ngai Province Red Cross Association to introduce the mine action model of Quang Tri Province in a workshop held today in Quang Ngai City.
The workshop was attended by leadership representatives from relevant agencies in Quang Ngai Province including Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Training and Education, Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Department of Nature Resources and Environment, Department of Public Security, Agent Orange Victim Association and Red Cross chapters of the districts in Quang Ngai Province.
The workshop attendants were presented the best practices and lessons learnt of the mine action work that has been implemented in Quang Tri Province during the past 20 years. They also discussed a possibility of piloting a Mine Risk Education project in Quang Ngai Province, taking into consideration of Project RENEW’s experience in implementing Irish Aid-funded Mine Risk Education and the situation of Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) contamination in Quang Ngai.
It has been agreed tentatively that Project RENEW will help build up capacity for the Red Cross Association of Quang Ngai Province with the aim of increasing ERW awareness of the local population in order to help reducing the number of ERW-related accidents.
“This is the first time that we have been educated about the successful mine action work of Quang Tri, one of the most ERW affected provinces of Vietnam,” Le Van Bac, Deputy Chairman of Quang Ngai Province Red Cross Association. “We look forward to receiving support from Quang Tri in terms of fundraising, coordination mechanism and on-ground project implementation.”
According to the Vietnam National Mine Action Center’s Report on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) contamination which was released in April 2018, Quang Ngai Province is among the many central provinces where unexploded bombs left from the Vietnam War still endanger people’s lives.
Approximately 293,302 hectares of land in Quang Ngai remains contaminated with ERW, accounting for 57% of its total area. Nearly 3,000 people in Quang Ngai Province have been victimized by ERW, including 1,372 deaths and 1.560 injuries, since the end of the war. Recently, a 51-year-old man residing in Tra Village of Cao Son Commune, Son Ha District has been seriously injured due to ERW. The accident occurred on 14 June 2018 when the man was trying to dismantle a piece of ordnance.
Project RENEW was established in 2001 as a joint effort between the government of Quang Tri Province and interested INGOs to “restore the environment and neutralize the effects of the war” – with the main focus on unexploded ordinance.
