Forty-one years after the end of the American War, Vietnam will release a map outlining the remaining unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the country.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh of the Ministry of Defense made the announcement shortly after signing a US$20 million deal with the South Korean government to clean up 8,000 hectares of affected land in Quang Binh and Binh Dinh provinces, reports VnExpress.
The defense official told reporters the map would be updated annually to reflect cleanup efforts by not only the Vietnamese government but dozens of nonprofit organizations.
In addition to preventing further casualties from UXO, the map is also intended to help experts in determining the appropriate technology and methodology required for bomb removal in high-risk areas.
Each year, UXO kills over 1,500 Vietnamese and maims 2,200 more, according to Thanh Nien. Over 18% of Vietnamese land, or 6.1 million hectares, remains contaminated with UXO.
Currently, government and nonprofit efforts manage to clean up 30,000-35,000 hectares each year, however government officials hope to ramp up decontamination efforts to 100,000 hectares a year. At this rate, the country would become UXO-free in 50 years, far faster than its previous timeline of 300 years.
According to Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, an estimated 800,000 tons of UXO remain in Vietnamese soil, reports VnExpress. The central region and northern border provinces are most affected.
The newly inked joint cleanup project between South Korea and Vietnam will begin in the latter half of this year and run until 2020.
[Photo via United Nation's Flickr]
