Land mines , the "cheap dirty" weapons of warfare aim to maim, rather than kill people and stop machinery. First developed in world war 1, they are used to overload the countries support system. Currently there are approximately 70 million land mines, located in 69 countries many of these are the poorer or the less developed countries of the world. These countries already struggle to 'survive or develop and the impact of changes indicated by land mines is significant. Both the population and society, along with the environment are effected, usually with devastating results Cambodia is one such country and this report explores the impact, changes and effects on it.
How Have The People Been Affected By Landmines
Ever since the mines have been placed in their country the Cambodian people have had to endure great hardship. Families were forced from the home fleeing to improvise camps along with 368,000 others from fear of getting maimed or even killed by mines in and around their villages.
Land mine victim 2
Land mine victim 3
Autumnal ExplosivesSome families have chosen to return taking huge risks every day just to collect supplies like food, water and wood. The providers for the families are travelling a couple of kilometres sometimes found hideously maimed in a field. Over 40,000 people in Cambodia live as amputees, one of the highest rates in the world. Because of the lack of a working medical system , many amputees are having multiple surgeries. Mine injuries are more fatal among children, and those children who are victims are more likely to be seriously injured. An estimated 4,446 square kilometres are contaminated by mines putting 5180000 million people in 6,422 villages at risk.
Fourteen years after de-mining in Cambodia started, and despite mine risk education and other measures casualties remain high, the average yearly incident rate averages at...