Vietnam Nghe An’s UXO Victims Receive Financial Aid to Improve Livelihoods
The Vietnam Association for Supporting UXO/Mine Action Efforts (VNASMA) presented VND170 million ($7,083) and 20 bicycles bomb and landmine victims and poor students overcoming difficulties in Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district, Nghe An province.
The association has supported the finance for 45 households with bomb and landmine victims to buy chicken breeds.
The supportive program will be divided into four periods with ten households in each phase. Households will be given 50 native black chickens, food, disease prevention and eradication medicine and technical instructions on raising livestock.
Vietnam currently remains one of the countries with the highest rate of bomb and mine pollution in the world. It is estimated that a total of about 800,000 tons of bombs and mines are left over from the war in Vietnam, with the total contaminated area and suspected mine pollution covering about 6.1 million hectares, accounting for 18.32% of the total area of the country.
The number of mines and unexploded ordnances is still scattered in 63 provinces and cities, mainly in the central provinces as well as the Central Highlands and Southeast regions.
By 2023, after decades of bomb and mine clearance, approximately 5.6 million hectares are still contaminated, requiring a considerable amount of time and resources to completely clean up these polluted areas, bringing greenery back to the land and ensuring safety for the people's lives.
From 1975 to the present, unexploded ordnance has claimed the lives of over 40,000 people and injured 60,000, mostly primary breadwinners within families and children. In some central provinces such as Quang Binh, Binh Dinh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, and Quang Ngai, there have been more than 22,800 victims of bombs and mines during daily activities and production, including 10,540 deaths and 12,260 injuries.