Quảng Bình Province
Quảng Bình Province is located just to the north of Quảng Trị Province. It was the southern-most province of the former North Vietnam. While less heavily bombed than Quảng Trị, Quảng Bình Province is still considered to have been one of the fiercest battlefields in the country during the war. On average, every square meter of land in the province was exposed to 65 pounds of explosives.
A 2018 UNDP sponsored survey of mine risk knowledge, attitudes and practice in Quảng Bình Province showed that over 80% of children, women and farmers surveyed did not know how to live safely in environments contaminated with explosive ordnance and did not know what actions to take if they encountered an explosive remnant of war.
Quảng Bình Province has a population of approximately 887,600 people. About 80% of the population live in rural areas, and approximately 46% of the province’s economy is agriculturally based. The poverty rate in this area is more than 50% among the ethnic minority families. In a predominantly agricultural society, farmers—reliant upon land that is still contaminated with unexploded bombs and mines—risk their lives every day to provide for their families.
Due to the high levels of contamination in the province, land clearance and EORE are of vital importance to support the safety, resiliency and educational and economic goals of communities still living with the legacy of the Vietnam/U.S. War.
Our work in Quảng Bình Province so far:
- PeaceTrees Vietnam supported the construction of its first kindergarten in the province, the Bản Kê Kindergarten, in 2005
- In 2020, PeaceTrees, in consortium with Mines Advisory Group and Norwegian People’s Aid, began a concerted effort to deploy high quality survey and clearance operations in the province
- In 2021 construction of PeaceTrees second kindergarten in the province, the Ooc Kindergarten, which was funded by a group of Citizen Diplomacy Travelers in 2019, was completed
- PeaceTrees also focuses on EORE and delivers scholarships to students who have been impacted by an explosive ordnance accident or ethnic minority children with financial need
