Aug
Fragments at Work
Posted under Charities, |
The No More Landmines Trust works in the countries around the world that are worst affected by landmines, funding humanitarian de-mining, assistance for survivors of landmine accidents and educating children and communities on the risks that landmines pose to them (Photo by Linh Hoai Nguyen).
The first of Blake’s sculptures were sold in June and have already funded mine clearance in Vietnam and are currently freeing up land for communities in Angola
Vietnam Clearance
A demining team funded by No More Landmines, spent all of July in Quang Hung Commune. The 11 male and female technicians, supported by medics and drivers, conducted a house-to-house search of the villages of Hung Loc and Tu Loan for all known and reported UXO. By the end of the month the team had visited 625 houses, conducted 124 explosive ordnance disposal tasks and destroyed 318 items of unexploded weapons.
Angola Land Release
A recent Landmine Impact Survey identified 522 Suspected Hazardous Areas (SHAs) in Moxico Province, Eastern Angola. Funds raised by Blake's sculptures have provided a Community Liaison Team with advanced surveying equipment in order to undertake technical and community-based assessments of contaminated areas, rapidly reducing the scope of these areas and allowing better targeting of clearance resources.
It is anticipated, based on lessons learnt from other mine action programmes that this innovative approach to Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA), using polygon mapping and targeted clearance, is likely to reduce the size of the suspect area by approximately 20-40% allowing the clearance teams to target specific areas where there is a high likelihood of contamination. This approach is fully consistent and compliant with International Mine Action Standards and forms a key part of the objectives for HMA in Angola laid out in the ‘National Mine Action Strategic Plan 2006-2011’ which states that a fundamental outcome of the Plan is the strategic implementation of this methodology.
This work will ensure that land is released as quickly as possible back to the communities that so desperately need it for farming and re-settling.
