Checks in Vietnam search for unexploded ordnance

During this period, almost 500,000 hectares were searched for unexploded explosive devices, as was announced at a ceremony held here to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Vnmac and to mark the presentation of the Order of Protection of the Vnmac to this institution Home Third Class.

Speaking at the event, Vice Chief of General Staff of the Vietnamese People's Army Colonel General Phung Si Tan proposed to promote research, analysis and forecasting of work-related situations to improve the quality of consultations and draft plans in the implementation of the 504 program.

The senior official, said the Voice of Vietnam, also asked to coordinate with relevant authorities to prepare an impact management plan for the period 2026-2045 with guidelines for 2050.

In 2010, the Vietnamese government released a National Action Program to deal with the consequences of the post-war munitions explosion in the period 2010–2015, known as Program 504, and four years later established the Vnmac, which is responsible for managing, coordinating and implementing the same.

In the 1960s and 1970s alone, three US administrations: those of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon dropped more than 15 million tons of bombs, landmines and projectiles on Vietnam, four times more than the entire arsenal was used World War.

According to Vnmac, between 600,000 and 800,000 tons of unexploded explosives are still hidden underground in about 18 percent of the national territory.

In fact, starting in 1975, when U.S. troops shamefully and permanently withdrew from this Indochinese country, more than 40,000 people died and about 60,000 suffered injuries and mutilations as a result of the explosion of these explosive devices.

mem/mpm