VIENTIANE, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Funding for unexploded ordnance (UXO) surveys and clearance is needed from various sources as there is currently a funding shortfall, Lao local daily Vientiane Times Saturday quoted an official report as saying.
The National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the UXO/Mine Action sector in Laos will continue its fundraising drive this year, said the report.
The NRA needs 31.6 million U.S. dollars to pay for the survey and clearance of UXO in at-risk areas, as well as to assist the survivors of UXO-related accidents by paying for medical checkups and treatment, and helping with employment.
Last year, the NRA sourced more than 26.8 million U.S. dollars through the Lao government and overseas organizations, which was used for several UXO clearance projects.
The NRA outlined the current situation at a meeting it hosted on Wednesday and Thursday to review its activities.
It is expected that 4,480 hectares of land still contaminated by UXO will be cleared by the end of this year, and be used for agriculture, industry, tourism, and infrastructure development.
In 2016, some 3,365 hectares of land was cleared of UXO. Clearance teams found 94,061 items, including 77,043 cluster munitions.
In 2017, a total of 108,586 UXO items were removed, including 84,977 cluster munitions, on 3,882 hectares of land.
According to the NRA's annual project review, from 2008 to 2017, some 920 people were injured or killed in almost 600 UXO-related accidents, with the number of fatalities recorded at 244.
During this period there was a substantial decrease in the annual casualty figures, from over 300 in 2008 to 41 in 2017.
The figure of 41 almost reaches the target figure of 40 set in the National Strategic Plan for the UXO sector of Laos. There has been a steady decline in the number of accidents caused by the destruction of UXO items and through lighting fires, cutting grass, and disturbing explosive devices.
The NRA, a Lao official institution dealing with UXO issues, has worked with international organizations to clear UXO. It is hoped that with sufficient effort and funding, UXO accidents can be made a thing of the past by 2030.
According to statistics from Lao authorities, from 1965 to 1973, the United States dropped some 2 million tons of ordinance on Laos during the Vietnam War, including 2.7 million cluster bombs which are designed to break apart and release a payload of smaller bombs. As many as 30 percent of these bombs did not explode.
Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita. Over the years, thousands of Lao people have been killed or injured, usually farmers tending their fields and children playing.
