31/12/2022 Libano
“If you ever come across anything suspicious like this item, please do not pick it up, contact your local law e enforcement agency for assistance”.
By Anna Foster
A visit to a minefield starts with some crucial safety notes. And they will save your life – when you are just steps away from deadly buried explosives, you need to pay attention. Red-painted sticks dug into the ground mean danger. Tread any further and you risk stepping right onto a mine. White sticks are the sign of a safe, cleared channel. Black sticks show where an anti-tank mine used to lie, with the explosives inside now burnt away. Wearing protective gear is vital. That means a helmet with a visor that wraps around your face from ear to ear and covers well below the chin. Protective body armour drops almost to your knees, shielding your vital organs and arteries from the impact of any accidental blast. In the heat of the Lebanese summer, it is stifling. Deminers start their work as soon as the sun rises, to catch the coolest temperatures. Every hour they take 10 minutes to rest. As the noon sun hits its highest point they are almost finished for the day. It is too dangerous to work when the conditions mean you might lose concentration. Even a momentary slip can be fatal. It was 25 years ago this month, on 3 December 1997, that the Ottawa treaty was signed. It’s better known as the Mine Ban Treaty – the international agreement that banned antipersonnel landmines – and it is widely considered to be one of the world’s most successful disarmament treaties. To date, 164 countries have agreed to be bound by it. Just weeks before the treaty was signed, the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) won the Nobel Peace Prize for their mine action efforts around the world. They have been working here in Lebanon since 2001. The demining operation is huge and continues almost daily. This year alone they will clear two million square metres of land and destroy around 10,000 landmines.
Dear editors, Biography of a bomb is aimed at highlighting the danger caused by unexploded bombs. Moreover, the most important aspect is that we work completely non profit, raising awerness about this topic is what drives us. We apologize if we make use of pictures in yours articles, but we need them to put a context in how findings are done. We will (and we always do) cite source and author of the picture. We thank you for your comprehension
