Japan-ASEAN Solidarity Fund Helps Clear Wartime Bombs in Central Vietnam

The Japan-ASEAN Solidarity Fund has donated nearly $1.6 million to a project to clear wartime bombs and mines in the central province of Quang Tri., the Dai doan ket newspaper reported. The Vietnam Bomb and Mine Clearance Action Center will carry out the clearance on 690 hectares in Gio Linh, Trieu Phong, Vinh Linh and Hai Lang districts from now up to May, 2011. Bombs and mines leftover from the war have killed 2,600 people and left hundreds of others injured in the province since 1975, said the provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. Statistics from the Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN) showed that unexploded armaments in Vietnam affect 20.12% or 6.6 million hectares of land.