Cambodia the Land of Mines
The second country in
the world by number of landmines, Cambodia, land of lush forest, ancient
temples and deep sorrow, is not still free from a heavy yoke that keep her
roped with her past of death. Victim of a tragic inherit from Vietnam war and
bloody Pol Pot military regime, Cambodia nowadays has a lot of grounds
disseminate of mines and unexploded devices. Grain fields, rice fields, forests
are high-risk places especially for peasants and countryside dwellers. Despite
they are still far from solution, they are working in two different fronts.
First is the land mine clearance, second is rescue of victims. Mine-clearing
teams are dealing with the research and clearing of high-risk countryside areas
like Battambang province. Field mine-clearing required firmness, attention and
cold blood. The first phase requires the use of dogs that, thanks to their
weight - lower than men weight - can tread on the fields looking for mines
without running the risk of making them blast. The second phase consists in
using a metal-detector, even if the action of this instrument is limited
because many mines are made of plastic. After identifying a mine, the skilful
operators, as CMAC team, defuse it. In the sanitary front, the Italian
Emergency hospital has now become a reference point for the Cambodian
population. Doctors and nurses provide assistance to many persons mutilated by
the landmines. In the daily hospital activities, the history of a Dolla patient
is significant. Following a injury, he lost a leg and, when he returned home,
he found his son waiting for him, who had been born during his hospitalization.
This reportage wants to tell about this silent tragedy that, since twenty years
from the end of Khmer Rouge violence, this country is still suffering.