[Ngo-lwg] Are you sitting on an unexploded second world war bomb?

[Chuck Searcy]

*The Guardian*
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2015/aug/11/unexploded-second-world-war-bomb-london>
Tuesday 11 August 2015
Are you sitting on an unexploded second world war bomb?

*Learn to stop worrying and live with the bomb – even if the UK appears to
be littered with them*
[image: Bang!]
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2015/aug/11/unexploded-second-world-war-bomb-london#img-1>
*Bang!
Photograph: Malerapaso/Getty Images *

Paula Cocozza <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/paulacocozza>

A bomb from the second world war has been found in Bethnal Green, east
London
<http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/11/hundreds-evacuated-in-bethnal-green-after-second-world-war-bomb-discovery>.
Before Bethnal Green there was Wembley
<http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/22/bomb-found-200m-from-wembley-stadium-safely-detonated-by-army>.
Before Wembley there was Bermondsey
<http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/25/bermondsey-bomb-destroyed-controlled-explosion>.
London is littered with unexploded devices
<http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2012/dec/07/every-blitz-bomb-mapped-london>.
The rest of the UK has them too, in smaller numbers. A spokesperson for the
Ministry of Defence estimates it receives “30 to 40 call-outs a week for
these things”. In Germany they turn up all the time - in Bonn, Berlin,
Munich and Koblenz. There were two in one week in Oranienburg
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/unexploded-wwii-bombs-pose-growing-threat-in-germany-a-859201.html>
.

When you sit on your sofa watching telly, are you sitting on a bomb, buried
just beneath your foundations? Well, if you are, don’t worry. As long as
you are not planning a basement conversion, you are safe. “Totally safe,”
says Kevin Kneebone. He is managing director of Bactec
<http://www.bactec.com>, a private bomb disposal company. “They only become
dangerous when they are impacted on.” Some people clearly do worry, though,
because Bactec offers an online risk assessment <https://bombrisk.com>: for
£175 plus VAT you can check out any UK address.

But why are so many unexploded devices being discovered, and how dangerous
are they?

The bombs in Bethnal Green, Bermondsey and Wembley were all found by
builders. This is not a coincidence. Parts of the capital that were hit
hard during the war – east London <http://www.theguardian.com/uk/london>
and Docklands for instance – are undergoing intensive regeneration, and
changes in architectural and construction trends are helping to feed the
discovery of munitions. Buildings are getting taller. Foundations are
getting deeper. Piling – a particularly invasive kind of foundation – has
become prevalent. In Germany, Belgium and Netherlands, Kneebone says,
construction companies are required by law to carry out a risk assessment
before starting work, even on a domestic house extension, but not in the UK.

It is tempting to view a bomb that has lain quietly for 70 years as
harmless. But a dormant bomb is a wakeable danger. “As soon as there in any
influence or stimulus - like being whacked by the bucket of a digger – it
can set the timer off,” says Major Chris Hunter
<https://twitter.com/ChrisHunter1001>, a former bomb disposal operator and
author of books such as Extreme Risk
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Risk-Chris-Hunter-ebook/dp/B004EYSXGG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8>.
“To a certain extent you are going in blind. It’s quite tricky to
neutralise them.” In London clay, they can be found as deep as 14-16
metres. Often, only a nose or tail breaks the earth. “You’ve got to try to
work out what fusing mechanisms are in there, what anti-handling
mechanisms.”

The problem is so widespread, Hunter says, because “their failure rate was
10-20%”. In Kent, Hunter’s patch, most unexploded bombs were brought to the
surface by the mysterious churning of the earth and found in the summer
months by walkers. So how long will this regular unearthing of potential
explosions go on for? Kneebone thinks discoveries will continue for “at
least the next 50 years”. He believes “thousands” of unexploded devices are
still to be found. He points to the MOD’s register of so-called “abandoned
bombs” in the UK - where a hole of entry was discovered, but no
corresponding explosion logged. The register, compiled from information
gathered during the second world war, charts 750 no-show detonations, but
of the 30 unexploded bombs that Kneebone’s Bactec has found since 1997,
none was on the register, suggesting the problem is much larger. You just
don’t know when these things will stir.
*=========================================*
*CHUCK SEARCY*
*International Advisor, Project RENEW*

*Vice President, Veterans For Peace  Chapter 160*
*Co-Chair, NGO Agent Orange Working Group*
*US    +1 404 740 0653*
*VN    +8 490 342 0769*
*E       chuckusvn at gmail.com <chuckusvn at gmail.com>*
*Sk     chucksearcy*
*=========================================*
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