Laos aiming to speed up UXO clearance

The National Regulatory Authority (NRA) and Lao National Unexploded Programme (UXO Lao) held an annual project review and UXO Trust Fund steering committee meeting in Vientiane yesterday to discuss ways of speeding up UXO clearance.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Alounkeo Kittikhoun said it is currently possible to clear about four or five thousand hectares of land per year, destroying more than 62,000 unexploded bombs in the process.


“If our clearance capacity reached 5,000 ha per year, we would be able to clear around 50,000 ha in 10 years, but really we need to find ways of finishing upwards of 200,000 hectares over this period,” he said.

“We have invited all staff from the NRA, UXO Lao and donors to this meeting to see if we can identify new ways to speed up UXO clearance in Laos,” Mr Alounkeo said.

He added that if no breakthroughs are to be found, clearance work could take hundreds of years.
“The speed of UXO clearance is dependent on the methods used,” the deputy minister said.
NRA Director Mr Phoukieo Chanthasomboun said 2011 posed several challenges for the authority, but many UXO survivors made great strides with their rehabilitation, including finding meaningful employment.

“However, of the more than 20,000 UXO survivors in the country, only 3,023 have received our help,” he pointed out.

Mr Phoukieo said that in 2011 the NRA was able to track down 92 new UXO accident survivors, but added that this figure was most likely inaccurate due to the difficulty of reporting all incidents.
He said most accident survivors are in need of vocational training and financial support to improve their livelihoods as they come from very poor families.

The NRA’s operations are key to ensuring the implementation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 9 to reduce the impact of UXO in Laos in accordance with the National Strategic Plan for the UXO sector known as ‘The Safe Path Forward II’.

This MDG should further function as a multiplier to MDGs 1-7 by providing increased access to assets and services for improved livelihoods.

More than 28,000 hectares of UXO-contaminated land have been cleared since 1996. By 2020 it is hoped that UXO will have been cleared from 200,000 hectares of land.

Source: Vientiane Times
By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update January 24, 2012)

Borikhamxay bomb detonated

Solidarity Service International (SODI) bomb disposal experts have successfully detonated the 2,000 pound bomb recently unearthed by a road worker in Khamkeuth district, Borikhamxay province. 

Mr Pounsawath Thavisouk, a member of the SODI UXO clearance team, said they disarmed the bomb in a controlled detonation on Sunday. He told local media on Monday that “a temple, a primary school and a few homes were damaged”. 

The clearance team initially decided to wait for two weeks before attempting to remove, defuse or detonate the bomb due to concerns about the automatic timing mechanism, so they buried it underneath 4,000 sandbags and evacuated Oudom village. 

In the end they decided to conduct a controlled demolition onsite as it was deemed too risky to move the bomb. Despite the fact that the blast was muffled by the sandbags, it was still a very large explosion and several buildings sustained damage. 

Debris from the explosion rained down on the village leaving both the school and the temple with a number of holes in their roofs. The ground shook violently and the explosion could be felt outside the 2km exclusion zone. 

The windows were blown out of many of the houses in the village.

Mr Pounsawath said “The bulldozer driver hit the bomb two or three times with his grader blade and luckily it didn't explode. Had it done so, I think everyone within a one kilometre radius would have been killed.” 

Khamkeuth district au- thorities had already evacuated most of the village residents and those who remained were ordered to leave prior to the demolition. The SODI team exploded the bomb at about 11am on Sunday morning, and villagers were allowed to return to their homes at about 3pm.

Mr Pounsawath told Vientiane Times they had buried the bomb under sandbags as a precaution in case it exploded. They felt there was a strong chance the timing device might have been activated after being struck by the bulldozer. 

After the time window passed without the bomb exploding, the SODI team decided that the only safe way to defuse it was to explode it onsite, as it was too dangerous to move. 

“Our experts thought it would self detonate within a few days of being struck, but after two weeks it became clear that the mechanism was no longer active, so we decided to blow it up ourselves,” he explained. 

Mr Pounsawath was not on hand to witness the explosion himself but told the Vientiane Times it went off with quite a bang. 

A Khamkeuth district school official, Mr Phetmany Chintana, said most of the village school's roof had been destroyed in the fallout after the explosion. 

“But our pupils can now return to school safely,” he said. The children and the rest of the villagers had been ordered to stay at home or at the evacuation centre since January 4 after the bulldozer hit the bomb the previous day. 

District education officials met on Monday to discuss repairs to the roof, which must be done before the rainy season arrives, and possible compensation. 

The National Regulatory Authority for UXO/Mine Action Sectors in Laos said they may be able to source funding for repairs to the school, temple and houses damaged in the explosion.

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update January 17, 2012)

Gov’t, UNDP brainstorm 2012 development plans

Laos and development partners mobilised US$630 million to support the National Socio-economic Development Plan (NSEDP) last year, helping the country progress towards its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).


The announcement was made to about 30 participants from ministries and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) during the Retreat on the Round Table Process, held in Vientiane on January 12.

“This round table meeting was arranged to brainstorm an action plan for 2012, focusing on implementation of NSEDP and MDG targets for which we will need help from international organisations,” said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Mr Somchith Inthamith at the meeting.

A prime ministerial decree has also agreed to increase the number of government consultant groups, from the various ministries, in the Round Table Process from eight to ten in a bid to attract more donors.
Laos’ MDGs are to eradicate poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; develop a global partnership for development; and reduce the impact of unexploded ordnance in accordance with the national plan for the UXO sector – The Safe Path Forward II.

The aim of development activities is to support the implementation of the NSEDP and achieve the MDGs, explained Deputy Director of the United Nations System Division of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Mr Arounyadeth Pasphone.

The Round Table group provides a forum for dialogue and coordination between the government and development partners.

“We’re promoting cooperation between the sectors concerned through joint policy making and priority setting, domestic and external resource mobilisation, result-oriented management and monitoring of progress and achievements,” he added.

In addition, the group aims put into practice sector-related actions and targets outlined in the Vientiane Declaration and the related Country Action Plan.

Director of the United Nations System Division of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Mr Morakot Vongxay, said lessons learned from the 2011 road map should be used as a basis for 2012 before broadening the scope.

The main focus of the 2012 brainstorming meeting is to put together an action plan and a monitoring mechanism to present to the 2012 implementation meeting at the end of this month. The plan should include all issues that need to be followed up from 2011, Mr Morakot said.

The 2012 Round Table Implementation Meeting at the end of the month will be the last before the 2013 brainstorming meeting which will take place after the mid-term review of the 7th NSEDP in 2013.

Source: Vientiane Times
By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update January 13, 2012)

Borikhamxay villagers ordered to evacuate bomb site

The residents of a Borikhamxay village have been ordered to stay at least one kilometre away from the site where a 2,000 pound bomb remains buried under sandbags.

It is feared the bomb could detonate at any time, and poses a huge risk to the people of Oudom village in Khamkeuth district.

The bomb was unearthed last week when a bulldozer driver working on a road upgrade struck it with his grader blade, according to local authorities.


Despite the fact that the bomb now lies under more than 4,000 sandbags, district authorities have ordered villagers to leave the area and not come within a one or two kilometre radius until the bomb has been removed and detonated in a safe place.

Many families have gone to stay with relatives or friends elsewhere, while district authorities have established temporary shelters a safe distance away for those unable or unwilling to leave the area.

However, some of the men have ignored the order to evacuate. While they have asked their wives and children to leave, they are afraid that thieves will burgle their houses if there is no one in the village. They are more scared of foolhardy young thieves than the 30-year-old bomb, believing that deciding to leave the vicinity altogether could be even more damaging.

Mr Pounsawath Thavisouk, a member of the Solidarity Service International (SODI) UXO clearance team, said “We made the decision when we first arrived to wait another 192 hours to make sure the bomb’s automatic detonation system did not go off. We want to leave it where it is for a total of 336 hours or two weeks before we try and remove it, mainly because the bulldozer blade hit the bomb a number of times.”

Mr Pounsawath explained that they were unable to completely uncover and remove the bomb as they lacked the appropriate equipment to conduct the operation safely, and the design of the weapon complicated matters.

Despite the fact that they couldn’t completely unearth the bomb they were able to identify it as a heavy artillery weapon specifically designed for use in the Indochina War, and said it contained an automatic detonation device.

Mr Pounsawath said the bomb was designed to explode within six days or 144 hours after it was armed, if for some reason it did not explode on impact. He said that this particular type of bomb had an automatic timing mechanism, which would detonate within six days of being armed, or immediately on impact.

“We still don’t understand why the detonation mechanism did not work; in fact this bomb should have exploded when it was first dropped,” he said. When asked if it was safe to remove, given that the timing mechanism should have detonated the bomb, he replied that the utmost caution was still required.

“No, no! The detonation system is not necessarily broken or dead. It could still be ignited at any time if it is disturbed,” he explained. He said that despite the fact that the bomb had been buried for so long, possibly due to muddy ground at the time it was dropped, it was still a potentially deadly weapon, given that it had been struck by the bulldozer blade a number of times.

The SODI disposal experts will return to Oudom village on or after January 16, to safely remove and disable the bomb. They plan to transport it to their dedicated disposal area nearby, where they are working to clear UXO in Borikhamxay province, which was heavily bombarded during the war.

Source: Vientiane Times
By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update January 12, 2012)

Specialised UXO clearance vehicle soon to reach Xieng Khuang

A Japanese Komatsu unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance vehicle arrived in Laos on January 8, boosting efforts to clear sub-munitions in Xieng Khuang province.

The US$1 million vehicle is to be used in a pilot project to clear unexploded sub-munitions from January to May, supported by Komatsu through the Japan Mi ne Action Service (JMAS).

The vehicle is currently at the Thanalaeng warehouse in Vientiane. “We expect it to arrive in Xieng Khuang in the next few days after we have obtained the correct papers from Vientiane border authorities,” Project Manager Mr Khammaly Luangaphay said on Monday.

The project will begin using the vehicle to clear UXO from agricultural land in Nahoy village, Paek district.

The vehicle has already proved effective in destroying mines in Cambodia.
“We are unsure if the vehicle will perform as well as it does in Cambodia because Laos is more heavily affected by sub-munitions, but we can make improvements to the vehicle if it's not suitable for clearing the type of bombs we have here,” Mr Khammaly said.

The vehicle will be used to clear UXO-contaminated flatland areas in the province, but areas the vehicle cannot access such as villages and hillsides will continue to be cleared manually.
Xieng Khuang is the second most contaminated province in Laos after Savannakhet.

Most of the buried ordnance consists of cluster sub-munitions known locally as bombies, but Savannakhet and other UXO contaminated provinces in central Laos are mostly contaminated by larger bombs.

Xieng Khuang is more heavily impacted by bombies than any other province, with surveys revealing 90 to 100 unexploded sub-munitions per hectare in agricultural land.

JMAS began clearing ordnance in Xieng Khuang province in 2006. The organisation is carrying out its objectives alongside the government's own UXO Lao programme, aiming to give the people of the province a safe and peaceful life.

The number of UXO casualties in Laos is expected to have fallen from over 300 in 2008 to less than 75 by 2015. The number of casualties prior to 2008 is estimated to have averaged 304 per year, while in 2009 and 2010 the figure was less than 117 and is estimated to be 87 this year.

Altogether, 98 of the country's 143 districts are contaminated with UXO. Furthermore, 41 of the 45 poorest districts are heavily contaminated, hampering development in these areas.

By 2015, Laos aims to have cleared 12,500 hectares of contaminated land, of which more than 11,800 hectares will be used for agriculture and the rest for other forms of development.

More than 28,000 hectares of UXO-contaminated land have been cleared since 1996. By 2020 the country aims to have cleared UXO from 200,000 hectares of land.

It is estimated that out of the 2 million tonnes of bombs, including 288 million cluster bombs, that were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973, about 30 percent did not detonate.



By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update January 10, 2012)

Bulldozer driver nearly blows up village

A Borikhamxay road worker got a nasty surprise while grading a road, when his bulldozer uncovered a 2000 pound bomb concealed beneath the soil.

He inadvertently uncover-ed the bomb just outside the temple in Oudom village, Khamkeuth district, while he was working on the road this week.

Mr Phone said he was driving his bulldozer some time on Tuesday morning, cutting back the roadway so that it could be resurfaced. “It was a very big shock when, as I was digging up the road, I saw this really big bomb. I did not know what to do, so I abandoned the bulldozer and ran away in case the bomb blew up,” he said.

Luckily, some unexploded ordnance (UXO) experts from Solidarity Service International (SODI) were working in the area at the time, and were able to come and investigate before too much time had passed.

The SODI experts identified the bomb as an American made 2000 pound heavy artillery weapon, and said that if it was interrupted or disturbed in any way, it could explode at any time.

Mr Phone told the SODI clearance workers that the blade of his bulldozer hit the bomb two or three times while he was driving up and down before he noticed that it was there.

They told him he was very lucky to be alive. In fact, they told him the 2000 pound bomb was capable of destroying everything within a two kilometre radius, and he could have inadvertently blown up the temple.

The SODI workers lacked the equipment necessary to remove and disarm the bomb at the time, but they wanted to make sure no one was tempted to interfere with the bomb, which would have been worth quite a bit to a scrap metal dealer. They put the bomb back in its underground bunker temporarily by putting 400 sandbags on top of it.

They requested assistance from the Japan Mine Action Service and the Lao National Regulatory Authority for UXO/Mine Action Sectors in Laos (NRA), who assign field tasks to UXO Lao to bring in the modern technology required to dispose of bombs safely, and get rid of more of the munitions that have haunted Laos for so long.

It is estimated that out of the 2 million tonnes of bombs, including 288 million cluster bombs, that were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973, about 30 percent did not detonate. During this period, a total of 580,000 deadly bombing missions were conducted. That averages out at one bombing mission every eight minutes around the clock for nine years.

According to the NRA, by 2015, Laos aims to clear 12,500 hectares of contaminated land, of which more than 11,800 hectares will be used for agriculture and the rest for other forms of development. More than 28,000 hectares of UXO-contaminated land have been cleared since 1996. By 2020 the country aims to have cleared UXO from 200,000 hectares of land.

Khamkeuth is a mountainous district that borders with Vietnam, and was heavily bombed because it formed part of the Ho Chi Minh trail. The district is also very poor due to the lack of roads in the area.
Road building is one of the key thrusts of the government's development drive, as it gives villagers access to markets, schools and health services. As the funding becomes available there are likely to be many more road building projects, so it is possible that more such incidents could occur. Mr Phone, meanwhile, might want to buy himself a lottery ticket, because there is every chance the event could have ended in tragedy.

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update January 6 , 2012)