Social News 18/11
Stop
preventable deaths: UNICEF
UNICEF
has launched a campaign called ZEROworkplace that involves companies in its
efforts to eradicate preventable child deaths in
ZEROworkplace
enables managers to provide critical information to employees in an
inexpensive and effective way that can have a lifesaving impact on their
children.
"In
Viet Nam, 100 children die every day from preventable causes," Youssouf
Abdel-Jelil, UNICEF's representative in Viet Nam, said at the launch ceremony
in HCM City on Monday.
"UNICEF
believes this number should be zero."
This
goal cannot be achieved without the support of the entire community, he said,
adding that UNICEF calls on all businesses to join the campaign.
Taiwanese
footwear manufacturer Pouyuen and Mobivi, a company that offers services to
factory workers through its iCare programme, are the first in the country to
join the campaign.
The two
can promote positive behaviours that have the potential to reach half a
million employees, most of them female migrants, a UNICEF release said.
As a
first step to joining the campaign, Pouyuen is promoting the Measles-Rubella
Immunization Campaign that was launched nation-wide on October 11 to
vaccinate 23 million children aged between one and 14, including 1.3 million
in
Using an
online toolkit to print materials, the company is calling on its workers to
get their children vaccinated against the two diseases.
The
toolkit is the first in a series of information packages that will be
accessible online through ZEROworkplace.
Abdel-Jelil
said that vaccinations are the most effective and low-cost way to prevent
diseases and ultimately save children's lives.
Build
health policies on research evidence: experts
It is
necessary to strengthen the use of research-based evidence to develop health
policies and programmes, especially for sexual and reproductive health.
Experts
agreed on this at the second national conference on Sexual and Reproductive
Health held yesterday in Ha Noi by the Ministry of Health, the Ha Noi School
of Public Health and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in
Deputy
Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said that strengthening scientific
research would help maintain the fertility rate at replacement level and
reduce the imbalanced sex ratio.
He also
said this type of research could help cut maternal, child and abortion death
rates and improve sexual and reproductive health care services for young
people.
Luu Thi
Hong, director of the health ministry's Department of Mother-Child Health,
said there were disparities in death and sickness rates between various
regions and population groups, especially among ethnic groups.
Inequalities
and disparities in access to quality reproductive health care were observed
among women in various regions in
She
added that
This led
to limitations in the development of policies on sexual reproductive health.
"Research-based
evidence in different regions and among different vulnerable groups would
help provide enough information to improve the sexual and reproductive health
of young people," said Hong.
Arthur
Erken, UNFPA representative in
The soon
to be completed 12-kilometre
The
The
2,000 hectares along the road will be located across the Vinh Ngoc, Tam
Xa, Hai Boi, Xuan Canh, Van Noi, Tien Duong, Bac Hong and Nguyen Khe
communes.
In this
area there will be a mixed use retail-agriculture urban area, so-called
There
are currently more than 10 projects under construction along the road. The
Korean-backed 2.5 billion Tay Ho Tay development is now under construction.
Expected to be completed in 2019, the project will house 25,000 residents
over more than 207 hectares of land.
Next to
this, the Hanoi Construction Corporation is building its Diplomatic project
over 62 hectares. This will consist of offices for the diplomatic staff,
apartment buildings and social facilities.
A little
bit further down the road, Indonesian-backed Ciputra has a new residential area
that is taking shape with 50 buildings and 2,500 houses. With a total
investment capital of $2.1billion, the project is now in its third phase.
Over the
Hanoi
Party Secretary Pham Quang Nghi recently confirmed that the city municipal
authorities were considering special policies to woo investors to participate
in developing urban areas along the road.
Those
policies, Nghi said, should be simple, attractive and feasible to attract
private investment.
The
Department of Planning and Investment was assigned by the local people’s
committee to draw up the proposed incentives for submission this year.
Meanwhile,
chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen The Thao said that future
investors who wanted to participate in sub-projects to develop those areas
would have to remain engaged throughout the project’s life. This precondition
was aimed to avoid investors who wanted to register in a certain project,
build houses and quit after the houses were sold.
He
stressed that the future sub-projects would need to be modern,
environmentally-friendly developments. He also ruled out tall apartment
blocks, favouring low-rise developments with plenty of green space.
The
overall development will consist of 14 sub-projects and will see a phased
implementation through until 2025.
Rooftop
farming in
One man
in
Nguyen
Manh Tien's farm is not limited to vegetable growing, he also raises pigs,
poultry and fish. He uses the produce for consumption by his family and
neighbours, and has been doing so for over a decade.
Since
then, he has added two additional terraces to the rooftop to expand his
venture.
“We’ve
grown our own food for several years and sometimes, and are almost completely
self-sufficient. Occasionally we buy a little beef or fruit,” said Tien.
He decided
to build such farm after he became aware of food security problems. While he
traveling as a fisherman, he picked up the methods of vegetable growers and
raisers of animals and brought them back to
"In
the first year we had 800 kilos of fish, and we had to sell the extra. I'm
very happy with the results now," he said.
He added
that some of the pigs can grow to be more than 100 kilos and have to be taken
down by pulley.
With 150
chickens and wild geese, along with 200 vegetables growing styrofoam boxes,
his family rarely has to buy food.
His
neighbourers are also very happy to buy safe and clean food from his family
and to know the source of their food.
“I
intend to introduce my produce to more people in the near future, and hope
others are willing to adopt similar techniques,” he added.
Sand
mining takes toll on dyke roads
Urgent,
tough action is needed to prevent sand-mining businesses and sand-carrying
trucks from damaging dyke routes in Thanh Hoa, says Nguyen Trong Hai,
director of the province's Dyke Management and Flood Control Department.
A recent
report by news website Vietnamnet.vn cited him as saying law enforcement
agencies should penalise and revoke business licences of those responsible
for overloading and using oversized trucks.
Hai said
that overloaded sand trucks had damaged 22.5km of the 296km of asphalted and
concreted first-class to third-class dyke roads in the province.
Dyke
roads are typically split into five classes based on several criteria
including the area they protect, with the fifth class being the lowest.
The
trucks were leaving sand on the road, causing asphalt and concrete surfaces
to peel off and creating pot holes, Hai said. He said local residents were
having to repair the routes by filling the holes with rock and dirt to
prevent road accidents.
He also
said that the trucks typically exceeded the maximum allowed vehicle loading
capacity of 12 and 10 tonnes on asphalt and concrete dyke roads,
respectively.
He said
the number of trucks using and damaging dyke routes had increased because
sand-mining businesses were overloading and oversizing their vehicles to earn
larger incomes.
Since
the police had tightened control over overloaded and oversized trucks on main
roads, the trucks were avoiding them and taking roads running along the
river.
Hai said
he was concerned that all dyke routes in the province would soon be damaged if
law enforcement agencies failed to come up with comprehensive solutions.
The
province, district authorities and people have implemented several measures
but were still finding it difficult to deal the problem, he added.
Le Anh
Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Thanh Hoa People's Committee, said that the
provincial administration has allowed districts to build size and load
control structures on main dyke routes, establish hotlines and empowered
commune police to seize overloaded and oversized trucks.
However,
Le Huy Hoang, Vice Chairman of the Tho Xuan People's Committee, said that law
enforcement teams were not able to solve the problem because the trucks were
often used late at night.
District
authorities have also found it difficult to manage sand mining business
because all three licensed ones were located in the same area, while many
illegal mines were located along the river, Hoang added.
Trinh
Ngoc Minh, the Chief Inspector of the Thanh Hoa Transport Department, said
that his office has established control stations on important dyke routes.
He said
his department had imposed fines of VND500 million (US$23,800) last month and
reduced the number of overloaded and oversized trucks plying the province's
roads.
However,
control stations could only deal with important sites, and district and
commune authorities had to take full responsibility for monitoring and
preserving dyke roads in their locations because funding for this had already
been disbursed to those administrations, he said.
Outlying
districts lack running water
Many
households in HCMC’s outlying districts such as 12, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh and
Cu Chi have no access to running water, so they rely mainly on unsafe well
water.
HCMC
vice chairman Nguyen Huu Tin, who made a field trip to the areas to check the
situation late last week, heard Nguyen Thi Bach Lan, a resident in Hoc Mon
District’s Dong Thanh Commune, saying her family has used water pumped from
wells for years.
She said
her family buys clean water at a high price for drinking and cooking.
In fact,
Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) has yet to install a water pipeline to the
area, forcing people there to use unsafe water for daily activities.
Nguyen
Thi Tiu in Thanh Xuan Ward in the same district said she has been using well
water since 1997.
District
12 chairman Nguyen Toan Thang said just half of 125,000 households in the
district have access to running water from Sawaco while the other half have
to use water from wells. In some places water resources are contaminated.
In Hoc
Mon Town in the district of the same name, about 1,720 of 4,000 households
are provided with clean water by Sawaco, while the number of families in
Thanh Xuan Ward having access to the corporation’s clean water is nearly
6,000, 72% of the total there.
According
to a report of Sawaco, there are around 113,100 of over 340,100 families in
58 outlying areas of the city being reached by the firm’s water supply
systems.
Speaking
at a meeting following the field trip, Tin said his trip found a report of
relevant agencies that said 98% of the city’s population has access to
running water is inaccurate.
Therefore,
he told Sawaco to map out a plan to supply running water for all people in
the whole city.
The Ha
Noi Traffic Police Division has proposed more traffic lights at key
intersections, round-the-clock presence of guards at major construction sites
and improved inter-agency co-operation as measures to tackle year-end road
congestion.
In a
meeting with the municipal People's Committee and its Department of
Transport, division head Dao Vinh Thang identified the traffic intersections
which face high risk of traffic congestion: Tay Son-Thai Thinh; Xa Dan-Nam
Dong in Dong Da District, Dai La-Tran Dai Nghia in Hai Ba Trung District; and
Nguyen Huu Tho-Nguyen Xien in Hoang Mai District.
Thang
also said that project investors should work with other agencies to install
enough warning signs and signals and assign people to be on duty round the
clock at construction sites so as to ensure steady flow of traffic.
He said
concerned agencies should also guarantee stable power supply for traffic
lights in the city.
The city
now had 46 zones that face high risk of traffic congestion and 31 traffic
accident "black zones," which are respectively 15 and 21 less than
the same period last year, Thang said.
Fencing
around several construction sites has narrowed the roads and caused traffic
jams, he said.
Nguyen
Quoc Hung, Deputy Chairman of the Ha Noi People's Committee, said that
inter-agency inspection teams made up of traffic police, inspectors and
police should conduct more inspections to deter violations, especially in the
city's inner districts, on national highway sections and construction sites.
Nearly
20 traffic light clusters in the Old Quarter should be repaired, he said.
He said
concerned agencies should also inspect and carry out upgrades on roads in
disrepair.
So far
this year, more than 1,800 accidents have killed 560 people and injured at
least 1,600 others in the capital city, according to the Traffic Police
Division.
The
districts that recorded the highest number of traffic accidents are Thuong
Tin, Soc Son, Ba Vi and Gia Lam.
The city
is estimated to have about 500,000 automobiles and nearly 5 million
motorbikes.
Lai Chau readies rice support plan
Deputy
Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked Lai Chau authorities to calculate
the quantity of rice needed to support about 3,500 households displaced by
two hydropower plants in the
The
support is meant to help the families stave off hunger while they waited to
be evacuated to new resettlement areas next year.
The
3,500 households live near the Ban Chat and Huoi Quang hydropower plants.
The Lai
Chau People's Committee should submit the rice support plan to the Government
soon, Hai said.
Local
farmers typically planted rice for a new crop shortly after the Tet (Lunar
New Year) festival every year, so the rice support should prevent them from
going hungry at that time.
He also
asked the provincial administration to complete paying compensation to the
households by the first quarter of next year.
The
committee should also deal quickly with complaints regarding compensation, he
directed.
The
Deputy PM has asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to
co-operate with the Finance and Planning and Investment ministries in coming
up with a plan to help the households stabilise their lives in the new
resettlement areas.
The 220
MW Ban Chat Hydropower Plant, built on the Nam Mu River in Than Uyen and Tan
Uyen districts, began operating in 2013.
Meanwhile,
the bigger Huoi Quang Hydropower Plant, which has a capacity of 520 MW has
also been built on the Nam Mu River. This dam straddles the provinces of Lai
Chau and
Unsafe
works face suspension
The
Construction Ministry says it will suspend all works that cannot ensure
safety standards for workers and the general public.
In a communique
sent on Monday to other ministries as well as provincial and city
administrations, the ministry called for immediate dissemination of the
National Standard for Construction Safety developed in September.
It also
asked provincial and city administrations to carry out strict inspections of
safety standards in construction works, focusing on equipment, including
cranes and scaffolding in urban areas.
The
ministry noted that reports of several construction accidents, including
collapsed cranes and scaffolding that have killed people and damaged
property, showed that contractors and investors were not following safety
regulations.
In a
recent accident, one man was killed and two others injured when a steel beam
dropped from a crane at the construction site of the urban railway project in
Thanh Xuan District.
The
Ministry of Transport has suspended the project pending investigation and
assessment of safety standards.
The
deputy chairman of HCM City People's Committee has asked agencies to prepare
two facilities to accept drug addicts without a stable residence who need
detoxification and psychological counselling.
Hua Ngoc
Thuan said the drug addicts would be sent to the Nhi Xuan Centre of Vocational
Education and Employment in Hoc Mon District and the Binh Trieu Admission
Centre of Addicts and Prostitutes in Binh Thanh District.
The
decision was made after the National Assembly passed a resolution on Monday
to send drug addicts who have no stable residence for detox treatment while
they wait for a court decision on whether they must enter a rehabilitation
centre.
As of
May 31, the city had 19,213 addicts, according to a city police report. Sixty
per cent of them do not have a stable residence, and most of them have
refused to voluntarily seek treatment at their community-based health
centres.
Phan Anh
Minh, deputy head of the
Of the
city's 19,213 addicts, nearly 70 per cent do not have a job. Many of them
resort to crime to get money to buy drugs and survive, he said.
Tran
Trung Dung, head of the city's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social
Affairs, said the addicts would stay at either of the two centres for 10-15
days for detox and counselling.
Tran Huu
Tham, deputy head of the Nhi Xuan Centre of Vocational Education and
Employment, said the centre's facilities could admit 2,700 addicts.
The
centre has 21 doctors and nurses who can provide detoxification services and
psychological counselling.
In
addition, the facilities at Binh Trieu Centre can treat 400-500 addicts.
The city
has 14 rehabilitation centres, some of them located in neighbouring
provinces, which can treat a total of 33,000 addicts.
Nguyen Thi
Quyet Tam, chairwoman of the city People's Council, said estimated funds for
detoxification would be VND4 million (US$190) per addict.
"This
puts financial pressure on the city, but these funds must be allocated,"
she said.
Dr
Nguyen Huu Khanh Duy, head of the Thanh Da Rehabilitation Centre, said it was
difficult to treat drug addiction as patients could easily relapse.
It takes
at least six months to two years to recover from addiction, he said.
More
than 1,800 of 19, 213 addicts are now being treated with methadone at centres
under the management of the Health Department, according to Nguyen Tan Binh,
the department's head.
New
tests needed to diagnose TB
Most
diagnoses of tuberculosis in
The NGO
is working with the HCM City Public Health Association on a TB care and
control project in
Vo
Nguyen Quang Luan, the founder of the NGO, said patients were asked to take
x-rays and undergo 10 days of antibiotic treatment if sputum tests were
negative.
Luan
spoke at a meeting on TB diagnosis that ended yesterday in
Patients
were told to return to hospital for more tests if the results were ambiguous
or the treatment was ineffective, he added.
"Advanced
diagnostics would greatly benefit patients and the community, and are needed
as urgently as ever," said Luan.
Dang
Minh Sang of
The
modern molecular test GeneXpert, which can detect the presence of TB bacteria
as well as resistance to the drug Rifampicin, is used in only a few health
facilities in Ha Noi,
Sang
said it was vital to introduce new diagnostic tools to help
Dr
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan of
However,
a high number of TB patients lived in rural areas, and a trip to clinics was
often a financial burden they could not bear, she said.
One way
to make the TB prevention programme more effective was to bring the
diagnostic tool as close as possible to the patients, she added.
She
suggested that a "novel molecular assay" that is more sensitive
than smear microscopy should be used in health clinics in wards and communes
in order to detect and treat TB patients early.
According
to WHO data from 2013, 209 people out of 100,000 in the country have the
disease, which includes HIV+TB co-infected patients.
WHO said
that TB was one of the top causes of death in
Martina
Casenghi, tuberculosis diagnostics advisor for Doctors without Borders'
Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, said such tools could reduce
diagnostic delays and improve access to drug susceptibility testing.
Timely
and accurate diagnoses ensures that patients can begin effective therapy, she
said.
According
to a 2014 global TB report, nine million new cases occurred last year, an
increase of 8.6 million in 2012. Of the cases, 1.5 million people died, she
said
Globally,
3.5 per cent of new and 20.5 per cent of previously treated TB cases had
multidrug-resistant TB, according to the report.
Serious
multidrug-resistant TB epidemics occurred in Eastern Europe and
Treatment
success rates for multidrug-resistant TB remain low, and the success rate
stands at only 48 per cent worldwide.
OVs
in
The
Vietnamese Businesses’ Association in Australia (VBAA) has expressed their
concern about recent developments in the
In a
letter sent to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and delegates to the G20
Summit in
The
association said goods transportation at the sea can be interrupted by
disputes, causing unforeseeable consequences to economies in the region and
the world, and even impacting seriously on the global economic recovery.
VBAA
called on
The
letter said with its prestige and global strength,
Apart
from VBAA’s letter, many Vietnamese students living in
The
rising number of drug addicts, especially those hailing from other
localities, has posed a headache for
According
to the Police Department for Drug-related Crimes Investigation (C47) at the
Ministry of Public Security, 20 drug trafficking cases were detected at
The
police seized 14 suspects, 7.7 kilos of heroin, 13 kilos of cocaine, 4 kilos
of meths and nearly 40 kilos of drug precursors.
Most of
the cases have associated with Africa-sourced rings, which targeted
In
recent months, the illegal trade became bustling via road routes between
northern localities such as Hai Phong and Quang Ninh and the city, it added.
Major
Mai Van Linh, deputy head of the HCM City Police’s Office for Drug-related
Crimes Investigation (PC47), said traffickers, especially those using air
services, are becoming more cunning.
He named
districts 1, 8, 12, Go Vap, Hoc Mon, Binh Thanh, Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Binh Tan,
and Binh Chanh districts as drug dealers’ hottest spots, citing that police
in District 1 detected 468 cases involving 743 suspects while District 8
police uncovered 942 cases with 1,063 suspects, during 2009-2013.
In the
first nine months of this year, the city’s forces brought to light 1,257
drug-related cases, seizing 2,543 suspects, 21 kilos of heroin, 11.27 kilos
of cocaine, 29.54 kilos of meths, and 9.97 kilos of hashish.
Senior
Lieutenant Colonel Phung Van Dang, PC47 deputy head, said the city police are
determined to eliminate drug hot-spots, especially in District 8 and 12.
Meanwhile,
Major General Nguyen Phi Hung, C47 deputy head, pointed to the need to fully
equip anti-drug forces stationed at airports and foster the sharing of
experience and coordination among relevant agencies there.
Investigation
on hijacked oil tanker expanded
The
Ministry of Public Security decided to take legal action in the hijacking
case of oil tanker
After
cooperating with the shipbuilding and insurance companies as well as technicians
to examine the black box, the Department for Investigation of Social
Order-Related Crimes (C45) concluded that the tanker was robbed by pirates on
its way from
C45 is currently
working with the Ministry of Public Security’s Information Sharing Centre
(ISC) under the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combatting Piracy and Armed
Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) to investigate pirate groups in the
Vietnamese
oil tanker
According
to the International Maritime Bureau, the
The
park, one of the world’s 2,203 Ramsar sites, supports a range of coastal and
terrestrial ecosystems that are typical of the geographic region, including
two different forest ecosystems. Its aquatic ecosystems, mangrove forests,
coral reefs and marine grass, are inhabited by 1,725 aquatic species.
As many
as 1,077 species of flora and fauna have been recorded in the terrestrial
ecosystems, including 23 species listed in the Red Data Book of Vietnam, and
four species that were first discovered in
The park
is home to 85 species of birds, 29 species of mammals, 38 species of
reptiles, and 8 species of amphibians. The diversity of ecosystems has
received extensive attention from scientists.
The
park’s geographic features make the archipelago a great destination for
coastal tourism. Con Dao island, along with the central coastal cities of
The
ongoing biodiversity conservation efforts, such as protecting and increasing
the size of forest areas and using natural resources efficiently, play a
crucial role in ensuring sustainable development throughout the archipelago.
Dong
Thap’s needy people receive free check-up
As many
as 400 poor patients in the Mekong Delta
The
programme, launched by the local Red Cross and the hospital with the theme
“Joining hands for community health”, aims to call for social involvement in
humanitarian examination and treatment activities in the locality.
It also
contributed to bringing healthcare services to local needy and disadvantaged
people, especially those from remote and border areas, and helped maintain
regularity of charitable movements in the community.
Vietnamese-run
clinics provide healthcare services in
A second
Vietnamese-run healthcare centre was inaugurated in Gamek, in
Thanh II
Centre, covering 1,000 sq.m, is the second facility operated by the
Vietnamese doctor couple Minh and Thanh in
The
centre is equipped with modern facilities and comprises a number of different
departments, with a highly qualified group of doctors, nurses and medical
workers from
So far,
Vietnamese doctors have set up six healthcare centres in
Project
promotes sustainable development in Lower Mekong
A project
aiming at accelerating the realisation of goals set in the Lower Mekong
Public Policy Initiative ( LMPPI) was launched at a workshop in
According
to the Fulbright Economics Teaching Programme (FETP) of
It will
also promote dialogues on public policy in an attempt to boost sustainable
economic development an improve people’s livelihood in
Addressing
the workshop, Rena Bitter,
The
project’s activities will focus on strengthening regional cooperation in
analysing the relationship among water, food security and energy, thus giving
proposals and measures in the field.
Funded
by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), LMPPI is
led by the Ash Centre for Democratic Governance and Innovation -
It seeks
to build institutional capacity in action-research and public policy for
ecologically sustainable development in the
The
initiative is anchored in an evolving regional network of researchers and
decision-makers working in agricultural production and natural resource
management systems. Major nodes of the network consist of small teams of
researchers at university, government, and non-government research units,
which will conduct outreach to key stakeholders from a range of sectors and
disciplines.
Vice
Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Huu Tin said each
district will select a commune or ward to implement this activity.
To make
waste classification a habit of families, local authorities should work
together to make effective communication plans, he added.
The
programme has been piloted in District 6 since March 2007, in Binh Thanh
district since June 2013 and District 1 since August 2013.
Local
people were provided with two-compartment trash bins and plastic bags to
classify organic and inorganic garbage, helping facilitate waste treatment
and save the money.
Demand
for environmental technology soars
All of
This
high demand requires a supply of appropriate technology and machinery to
create environmentally friendly products and services, the ministry said.
From
2010-2014, total official development assistance (ODA) allocated to
environmental projects amounted to 2.9 billion USD. In 2013, 259 million USD
was disbursed for this purpose.
In terms
of solid waste treatment technologies, local enterprises have applied Spanish
technology at the Cau Dien facility in
With
regard to sewage treatment, a number of Vietnamese businesses are effectively
applying technologies from
Chairman
of the Vietnam Environment Industry Association Do Huu Hao said only 10
percent of sewage in urban areas was treated properly and only 30 percent of
industrial production sites were equipped with waste water treatment
facilities.
In
addition to domestic efforts to produce environmental technologies, it is
necessary to promote the application of international expertise adapted to
local conditions, specialists suggested.
Deputy
Head of the Department of International Relations and Science-Technology
Nguyen Minh Cuong suggested diversifying investments in environmental
protection, which are currently sourced from the State budget, the private
sector and ODA.
It is
also important to foster bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and
international partners by exchanging experts, enhancing the capacity of the
involved parties, and adopting policies to develop large-scale companies
providing environmental services.-
New
association boosts efforts to tackle UXOs
The
Vietnam Bombs and Mines Action Support Association was established in
The
association, headed by former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the
Vietnam People’s Army Lieutenant General Nguyen Duc Soat, has gathered more
than 200 voluntary scientists, researchers and war veterans with experience
in the field.
The
association will work together with local authorities and other social
organisations to raise financial aid from foreign and domestic businesses and
individuals as well as international organisations for bomb and mine
clearance missions and improving the life of UXO victims.
At the
same time, the organisation plans to popularise information on the UXO risks
and prevention measures among communities in areas severely polluted by UXO.
Nearly
40 years after the end of the war, many areas across the country are still
contaminated by UXOs, which seriously threaten the safety of local
communities while hindering socio-economic development.
Preliminary
statistics show that UXOs have claimed more than 42,000 lives and left about
62,000 injured, mostly rural people and children, over the last four decades.
Each
year on average, more than 1,500 people die and nearly 2,300 people get
injured, including many children, due to UXO-related causes.
Immediately
after the war, the Vietnamese Government has worked tirelessly to deal with
the situation through many programmes and projects, spending between 80-100
million USD each year on the task despite the country’s economic
difficulties.
In April
2010, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the National Action Programme
on Settling the Consequences of UXOs (known as Programme 504) for the
2010-2025 period with the aim of mobilising domestic and international
resources to clear UXO and help victims integrate into society.
From
2010 to 2015, the programme aims to conduct surveys and develop a complete
map of UXO contamination across the country and build a national database on
the field besides regular activities of demining and educational campaigns.
In 2012-2013, nearly 100,000 ha of land were cleared from UXOs. The UXO map
has been completed while information of 49 out of the country’s 63 provinces
has been fed into the national database.
In
2016-2025, the programme is expected to perform clearance of bombs and mines
over about 800,000 ha, and continue to boost information and its cooperation
with foreign agencies to disarm UXO.
Last
year, the Vietnam Mine Action Centre (VNMAC) was established with the aim of
coordinating funding sources and relevant bodies to develop and implement
long-term, medium-term and short-term action plans and specific targets for
post-war bomb and mine clearance.
The
According
to the National Steering Committee for Programme 504, about 800,000 tonnes of
UXOs are scattering across 6.6 million hectares, or 20.12 percent of the
country’s land, mainly in the central region, putting people in danger every
day.
The
Technology Centre for Bomb and Mine Disposal under the Engineering Command
reported that more than 88 percent of the communes in the country’s 63
provinces are polluted with UXO (7,645 out of 8,686).
The
Vietnam People's Navy and the Royal Cambodian Navy met in An Thoi town, Phu
Quoc island district, Kien Giang province on November 12 to review their 18th
joint patrol.
The two
sides also discussed other issues related to activities on the sea and
cultural and sports exchanges between the two naval forces.
They
agreed that through a hotline and the 18th meeting, the two sides will coordinate
to deal with issues arising from the use of the sea and together with local
armed forces and authorities, provide legal education for fishermen to help
them avoid any violation of the law on the sea and sovereignty over
territorial waters of other countries
They
will coordinate to handle issues relating to social order and security, and
search and rescue in the spirit of solidarity and friendship for mutual
benefit.
They
will also share experience in building and training of their naval forces.
Landslides
hit southern district
A state
of emergency was declared in the Hong Ngu District in the southern
The
provincial People's Committee ordered the Dong Thap Department of Agriculture
and Rural Development to immediately evacuate the danger zone, set up warning
signs and limit traffic along the river banks.
The
department will also conduct an investigation to evaluate the scope of the
damage, set up a perimeter and find a solution to minimise more landslides
along a 200 metre stretch of river bank.
The
local People's Committees has been ordered to help relocate local citizens
and provide financial and medical support for those in need.
"There
have been 27 landslides reported since the beginning of the year along a
1,124 metre long stretch," said Nguyen Trang Su, chairman of the local
People's Committee.
"Hong
Ngu District has the most landslides in the province."
Although
no fatalities have been reported so far, landslides have destroyed two
houses, forced 23 households to relocate and caused more than US$70,000 worth
of damage.
"It
is getting worse by the day and we cannot dismantle our houses and move them
out of the danger zone because they are permanent structures," said Su.
Local
authorities have ordered the river banks to be reinforced but said more
landslides were unlikely and more areas would be affected before the end of
the flood season.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Hai, 17 tháng 11, 2014
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