Afghanistan to demine vast areas in hazardous eastern provinces
Kabul, June 30 (IANS) The Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority announced late Monday the signing of a joint cooperation agreement with a leading mine clearance organisation aimed at tackling the persistent threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance.
Under the deal, the demining organisation will clear around 1.88 million square meters of heavily contaminated land across multiple districts in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar, and Nuristan, according to a statement issued by the authority.
The initiative also includes the establishment of rapid emergency response teams in the above-mentioned provinces and the delivery of mine risk education programs to 36,680 residents in affected communities, the statement added, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Once the project has been fully implemented, approximately 215,000 people will benefit from its outcomes.
Afghanistan is one of the most landmine-contaminated countries in the world, with dozens of people, mostly children, being killed or maimed every month due to the blasts of explosive devices left over from wars in the past decades.
On June 13, a child was killed and six others sustained injuries after two unexploded device left over from the wars went off in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, provincial director for information and culture Mullah Abdul Bari Rashid said.
In the first gruesome incident, which occurred in Sangin district after three innocent children found a toy-like object and begun playing with, but the device exploded, killing a child on the spot and injuring two others, the official added.
The second incident, which took place hours later in the same district on the same day, left four children injured, the official confirmed without providing more details.
On June 2, a teenager was seriously injured after an unexploded device left over from the past wars went off in eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, said a statement of the provincial police office.
The gruesome incident occurred in Gilan district when the ill-fated boy found a toy-like object and began playing with it, but the device exploded, the statement added.
–IANS
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