PM demands mitigating accidents caused by UXO

Directive No. 20/CT-TTg requires relevant ministries, agencies, and the State Steering Committee for the National Mine Action Programme, also known as Programme 504, and People’s Committees of provinces and cities to strengthen the responsibility of the whole political system in the work. 

Communication campaigns are to be boosted to raise awareness of UXO danger, thus helping people avoid UXO-related accidents, especially in the Central and Central Highlands regions. 

The PM orders the dissemination of knowledge of unexploded ordnance as well as regulations on the storage, trade and use of wartime bomb and mine, explosives and weapons. 

Relevant ministries and agencies are assigned to revise legal documents, policies and regulations in the field. 

He requests relevant bodies and localities, particularly at communal level to increase inspection and deal with related violations. 

The PM also urged the research of suitable mechanisms to provide support for UXO victims. Priority will be given to the upgrade of civil-military health care facilities in remote and farflung areas, particularly in UXO-contaminated areas. 

According to statistical data, around 30 percent of explosions are triggered through reckless acts by people collecting, storing, trading, sawing or dismantling UXO. 

The remaining explosions are unexpectedly caused by those, including children, who live in areas contaminated with unexploded ordnance. 

Recent explosions included the one in the Van Phu urban area in Ha Dong district, Hanoi, on March 19 which killed five people and injured 10 others and another in Duc Binh Tay commune, Song Hinh district, Phu Yen central province which cost three lives.