Jul
17
Landmines
July 17, 2007 |
TMAC mine clearing in Thailand
“I am standing on a mine”
The words came from my squad leader and I was standing two meters away when he said them. We where busy stretching telephone wire for the HQ of A-coy, and the little Israeli butterfly mine was inside the wire. In an area we thought were perfectly safe. But we were in a landscape that was literally seeded with mines, some of them dating all the way back to the first world war. So the little bugger was probably in the soil we used for the earth embankment protecting the camp.
We survived that incident with all our limbs intact as the thing turned out to be a dud. But I hate landmines and UXO’s. Having seen first hand what they can do not only in South Lebanon, but also in Sudan, the Balkans and in Iraq. So why am I talking about this in a blog about Thailand.
Well, a remark on a chat board made me Google Thailand and landmines, and it has it’s fair share of them. These are dating back to those south-east Asian wars a few decades back.
The Thai Mine Action Center (TMAC) has extensive information about this problem, that is affecting the lives of thousands of people in Thailands border areas.
The Landmine Impact Survey conducted in the Kingdom of Thailand from May
2000 until June 2001 conclusively identified 530 mine-impacted communities that contain 933 distinct mine and UXO contaminated sites. Of these communities, 297 are located along Thailand’s border with Cambodia, 139 along the border with Myanmar, 90 in the areas adjacent to the Thai-Laos border, and four near the border with Malaysia. The estimated 2,557 square kilometers of contaminated land in Thailand directly affects the livelihoods and safety of 503,682 persons. A thorough verification exercise suggests that the survey was successful in reaching at least 95 percent of the contaminated communities in Thailand.
Clearing mines is a very dangerous and painstakingly slow job, and it may take years for the contaminated areas to be 100% safe. Meanwhile children and everyone else that live in the affected areas are at risk. And if you have ever been in an area where there are many people with mine injuries, you will notice that you will see relatively few children among them. The reason is that they do not survive. Children’s small size means that their internal organs are closer to the blast, and they are also less able to survive a substantial blood loss.
The terrible fact about landmines is that they will stay active, kill and maim for decades after they are placed. Long after a truce or peace is declared.
Thailand was the first country in South East Asia to sign the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines in Ottawa on 3 December 1997, and seems to take it’s obligations to remove these weapons and clear it’s minefields seriously. At least I hope that is what they are doing.
Meanwhile, it will be prudent to seek more information, and ask the locals if you are moving about in areas where there used be, or still may be mines. And if you have children, do yourself a favour an educate them about mines, UXO’s and teach them not to pick up anything they may find on the ground.
Basically scare the snot out of them, and be as graphic about it as you can. They may have a few bad dreams, but it’s better than losing a limb, or life.
I may appear a little dramatic here…but once you have seen the results of a mine blast…well… you don’t want to see it again.
(Picture above courtesy of www.psywarrior.com)
Popularity: 13% [?]
Comments
1 Comment so far
This was a real shock even though I shall be living far from the borders. Never heard about it anywhere else, but then again I don’t suppose the Tourist Authority of Thailand want to advertise the fact.