Vietnam - Deadly Debris

Speaker 1:                           00:00                     The Vietnamese children face and uncertain future.

Speaker 1:                           00:16                     During the war the United States dropped more than 15 million tonnes of explosives on Vietnam. Special Vietnamese teams have been clearing bombs that didn't detonate. However, they have cleared only a small percentage. Many more bombs and mines lie waiting still.

Speaker 1:                           00:46                     This boy has lost part of his leg. He will suffer from this disability throughout his life. He is one of the tens of thousands of victims of the bombs, mines and shells left by the last war in our country. On the afternoon of April 7, 1997 a baby born at [Kesun 00:01:51] Ethnic Minority Boarding School in Nghe An Province killed seven students and wounded 37 others plus a teacher, leaving schoolmates, teachers and parents paralysed by grief.

Speaker 3:                           02:26                     My eldest granddaughter was killed. My grandson lost a leg, and my third granddaughter still has bone fragments in her chest.

Speaker 3:                           02:41                     My son [inaudible 00:02:42] was struck by a pellet bomb that broke his thigh and severed a tendon. He can't do anything. We are so hard off like ...

Speaker 1:                           02:53                     There were other victims at Kesun Boarding School. [Lien Ti Kang 00:02:56] has a bomb fragment in his cranium. [Loi Ti Ohn 00:03:00] has a fragment in his abdomen. [Vi Ti Hy 00:03:01] has a fragment in his cranium. [Luong Ti Minh 00:03:05] has a fragment in his chest. [Loi Van Nhan 00:03:09] has a fragment in his abandonment. [Lin Van Minh 00:03:11] has a fragment in his eye. [Lin Van Zun 00:03:18] has a fragment in his lungs. [Loi Van Ma 00:03:23] has fragments in his chest.

Speaker 1:                           03:28                     28 other wounded children have residual shrapnel. A quarter century has elapsed since the end of the last war, yet the war continues for blameless people suffering from countless explosions.

Speaker 1:                           03:57                     According to military experts in the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence, the US dropped 15,350,000 tonnes of bombs, mines and shells on Vietnam during the last war. This is 3.9 times the tonnage the US dropped in all fronts of the World War II and twelve times the tonnage the US used during the Korean War. The average density was 119 tonnes per square mile; over 600 pounds of bombs for each citizen of Vietnam at the time.

Speaker 1:                           04:49                     Mr. Minh Tung is Director of the Centre for Clearing Bombs and Mines.

Speaker 1:                           04:52                     (translating Minh Tung) "Though the bombs dropped, many never exploded. They lie scattered all over Vietnam in our rice fields, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, forests and in our cities."

Speaker 1:                           05:07                     According to researchers, more than 2% of the total explosives used during the last war never detonated. 350,000 tonnes of unexploded bombs and mines hidden waiting. Shortly after the war, the Vietnamese government and the Communist Party began the urgent task of removing undetonated weapons in the provinces of Southern Vietnam in order to ensure a peaceful life and restore the country's economy. From 1975 to 1977 during the three years immediately after the war military and [inaudible 00:05:46] de-miners defused and destroyed three and a half million mines, seven million other explosives and 5,500 tonnes of bombs and other weapons in order to free 100,000 hectares of agricultural land for cultivation. The de-miners detonated lift mines which were easy to spot by hurling them against a hard object or they struck mines with a long stick. Other times they had no other means of destroying mines. Clearing teams in areas with heavy vegetation covering M6A2 [inaudible 00:06:21] mines, [inaudible 00:06:22] M14 mines and [inaudible 00:06:23] mines and used guns or tanks to detonate the mines.

Speaker 1:                           06:35                     Detecting and destroying unexploded bombs and mines is extremely hard and dangerous work. It requires precise care and extreme caution. There's no space for the least error. Waiting for tomorrow and the next day to do this work only makes the task more dangerous. The soldiers must work the worst conditions; in the wind and cold and sometimes all day long in chilly water. After the war we dealt only with the bombs, mines, shells and other explosives that were on the surface or at a depth of less than a foot. Most of the anti-personnel weapons to have not been unearthed. They threaten to kill at any moment.

Speaker 1:                           08:11                     Mr. [Le Du Kung 00:08:12] comes from Quang Tri, the province south of the former Demilitarised Zone or DMZ.

Speaker 1:                           08:17                     (translating Le Du Kung) "I was retrieving sand from the river bottom when a pellet bomb exploded wounding me. Fleshed arrows and retreated my intestines. My intestines are full of [inaudible 00:08:32]."

Speaker 1:                           08:32                     [An Hung Mingho 00:08:32], head of the Mine and Bomb Disarming Team Number Three under the Bomb and Mine Treating Centre of the De-mining Command.

Speaker 1:                           08:47                     (translating) "We're clearing this side for construction of the [Thach Han 00:08:52] Bridge on National Highway, one way between Thua and Quang Tri where the number of bombs where the enemy dropped is tremendous. Here there are all kinds of destructive bombs: piercing bombs and [inaudible 00:09:06] baby bombs and the worst of them all especially, the M79s."

Speaker 1:                           09:13                     During the war de-miners found the vanguard. Today in peacetime de-miner still face death every second of every minute. Many de-miners have died or been disabled for the rest of their lives in the effort to secure safety for everyone.

Speaker 1:                           10:17                     (translating) "I was disarming bombs and mines when a shell went off. My jaw and teeth were broken. One ear is deaf and my side is weak."

Speaker 1:                           10:30                     (translating) "I'm [Nguyen Vin Qui 00:10:39], I'm 21 years old. In March 1996 I joined Brigade 229 and disarmed bombs and mines. One mine exploded."

Speaker 1:                           11:01                     These men have sacrificed themselves for the nation. They set off the example for Vietnamese youth to follow. The nation remembers their sacrifices which are engraved forever in the memory of their mothers and fathers, their relatives and friends and us all. The de-miners comrades share the sorrow and continue to show affection to their friends and families.

Speaker 1:                           11:33                     De-miners clearing 17 acres around Thach Han Bridge in Quang Tri Province located ten armour piercing bombs, two block busters, over 1,000 shells of various kinds and 1,000 baby bombs, mines, and AM79 shells. AM79 shells and baby bombs are the most destructive explosive devices. The worst of all is the mother bomb. One mother bomb blows up to 600 bomblets, or baby bombs. Each baby bomb contains 550-600 pellets. Each as destructive as a bullet. A baby bomb is many times more destructive than any of the 340 different types of anti-personnel mines all of which are deadly. Time has casings on casings on explosive devices but the detonators do not deteriorate. The detonator touched by another object such as plough, a hoe or a child can cause the detonator to shift from dormancy to ignition and disaster.

Speaker 1:                           12:53                     Mr. [Hong Sin Kran 00:13:16] is the chair of the People's Committee of Zoning District in Quang Tri.

Speaker 1:                           13:20                     (translating) "Citizens in this area have suffered from major accidents. Most of the victims are very young schoolchildren. In our community of 6,300 people, 271 people have died and 544 have been wounded since the war ended."

Speaker 1:                           13:39                     Mr. [Chan Lung Ty 00:13:40] is an army officer.

Speaker 1:                           13:43                     (translating) "Everyone produces rice in this kind of delta area. On the surface of the field there's rice but bombs wait underneath in the entrails of the Earth. Every year the farmers strike bombs while ploughing and there are accidents. Every year the number of baby bombs with Fleschs arrows explode here."

Speaker 1:                           14:02                     (translating) "We have land we can't use, making our life that much harder. About 15% of our land, somewhere around 70 hectares can't be used."

Speaker 1:                           14:28                     So many fathers and sons of have died in the rice paddies that's why fields lie fallow and the poor become poorer still. But no one who is hungry will let his hands rest. Everyone tries to earn their living. Some people collect bomb and shell fragments to sell for scrap metal. Mr. Minh Van Chen spoke with an interviewer.

Speaker 1:                           15:07                     (translating) "I've been doing this job for two years. There are lots of bombs and shells in this area."

Speaker 13:                         15:11                     Have there been any explosions here?

Speaker 1:                           15:13                     (translating) "A man was killed some days ago."

Speaker 13:                         15:18                     And you are afraid?

Speaker 1:                           15:19                     (translating) "I have to have food. I have to live."

Speaker 1:                           15:27                     In addition to official military de-mining personnel, ordinary people collect and dismantle unexploded bombs to sell the explosive for excavation work and the shells for scrap. They know this is extremely dangerous but they are poor and don't have fields to till. They have no other way to earn a living and support their children.

Speaker 3:                           15:46                     (translating) "My husband was killed. Others don't suffer as much as I do. I left behind unprepared to cope, left behind with less than a pittance. What can I do to live? What can I do? I'll suffer forever."

Speaker 15:                         16:17                     A mine killed Mrs. [Trieu 00:16:19]'s husband while he was hoeing their rice field. She's in frail health and lives in destitution with three small children.

Speaker 15:                         16:33                     Mr. [Nguyen Min Wi 00:16:33] is Vice President of the People's Committee of An Giang Province in the deep south of Vietnam.

Speaker 15:                         16:39                     (translating) "In the first six months of 1998, four explosions killed 18 people and wounded 15 others, of them 13 were children. We found ten tonnes of explosives while dredging just 30 miles of [inaudible 00:16:53] Canal. We were at it more than 20 years ago yet bombs and mines explode every year in An Giang Province because farmers touch them off, all because children, too young to know better, mistake the bombs for toys causing some to explode."

Speaker 15:                         17:17                     (translating) "Most of the explosions here happen to poor labourers; hand labourers. Because they are poor they can't pay for medical treatment. Because the wounds are numerous and in different parts of the body, treatment may require many different medical specialists and extended recuperation time. The death rate is high."

Speaker 15:                         17:46                     Over 60% of the victims of bomb and mine explosions are children. An unfortunate child breaks a family's heart. A wounded father brings grief to his children.

Speaker 15:                         18:21                     (translating) "On October 12, 1993 my son and I were hoeing the garden when a shell exploded. I lost one arm, one leg and both eyes. My son lost an arm and leg."

Speaker 3:                           18:35                     (translating) "My son was 11 years old. One day on his way home from school he stepped on a mine at milestone 15 of [Nam Lao 00:19:02] Route Number Nine. A solider was killed, my son was injured. He's 16 now and blind in both eyes. A fragment remains in his head, two fragments in his chest and one in his groin. We can't afford to remove them."

Speaker 1:                           19:34                     These victims become burdens for their families and society. Despite numerous difficulties the Vietnamese government spends millions of Vietnamese Dong a year to assist the victims and their families. But no amount of money can compensate for their suffering.

Speaker 3:                           19:53                     (translating) "When I was small I was completely wounded by an [inaudible 00:19:58]. I grew up and married. My husband lost his legs and one arm. I take care of him and our four small children by making rice brooms but that doesn't give us enough money so our four children are illiterate."

Speaker 1:                           20:14                     Mrs. Bui's children, aged seven and eight, help the family make a living. They have no time or money to attend school. What prospects can they expect?

Speaker 3:                           20:24                     (translating) "Complaining only makes my husband suffer. I must bear my misfortune alone."

Speaker 1:                           21:06                     35 foreign non-governmental organisations and thousands of sympathetic Vietnamese individuals and organisations try to relive the suffering of victims in Quang Tri Province. The Vietnam Veterans of America Fund add peace trees and supported the construction of a centre to educate about mines and to disarm bombs and mines.

Speaker 1:                           21:34                     The German organisation SODI assists with the mine and bomb disarming project at [Ai Tu 00:21:39] and [Kung Lo 00:21:41] as part of the Kung Lo Resettlement Programme. The British Mines Advisory Group has begun a 500,000 US Dollars project to disarm bombs and mines.

Speaker 1:                           21:52                     The Vietnamese government spends of hundreds of billions of Vietnamese Dong every year to remove bombs, mines and other explosive devices. However only 7-8% of Vietnam has been safely cleaned.

Speaker 1:                           22:32                     Experts predict it will take 30 years and 15 billion US Dollars to clear our country of the explosives. How can the Vietnamese people live in peace? Live in such conditions?

Speaker 1:                           23:02                     Lady Boeten is a representative in Hanoi Quaker Service, an American non-governmental organisation.

Lady Borten:                      23:09                     I'll always be haunted by the children I knew in Quang Ngai during the war; amputees, paraplegics. And of course they're grown now if they're still alive. And I'm also haunted by families I've known in the north of Vietnam, one in particular that took me in and let me stay in their home and they had only recently lost a son to a baby bomb long after the war. And that was just incredibly moving to me that my country has dropped so many bombs here and yet we have done nothing, nothing so far, to help clean them up.

Speaker 1:                           24:08                     Many localities report heartbreaking stories, particularly about children.

Speaker 1:                           24:16                     (translating) "There was a school. Our children were happy to play. They had just gone behind the kitchen where just by chance they found a baby bomb. They used the bomb as a drum, hitting it with a stick while they danced. The bomb exploded, killing six children. Six others lived. They are handicapped. One child in this family was killed. This child lost one eye; he can't see out of the other side, and his leg was broken. This small girl's leg was also broken."

Speaker 1:                           25:00                     These children, who are three our four, will suffer from the wounds of war for the rest of their lives. Innocent children continue to suffer the agony of war. Whenever bombs and mines remain uncleared, destruction and death continue.

Speaker 1:                           26:05                     This scene contains footage shot by the Quang Tri Population and Family Planning Committee on the opening day of a vaccination campaign. The team was filming children leaving school and playing along the path in Hai village of Linh District when [inaudible 00:26:21], aged nine, unexpectedly stepped on a mine.