A cluster bomb ejects explosive bomblets which form a deadly carpet. Most of them detonate when hitting the ground, creating a veil of death on vast landscapes. Some
however do not detonate and become deadly traps for enemy forces moving back in or for normal people, animals and children for decades.
Today, in 2017, every three days a human gets blown up by a bomblet in Laos.
Roughly 80 Million still lurking in the ground.
Laos is the most bombarded country in this world! Little did I know about this fact when I first traveled Laos, and little did I know about the deadly heritage of
the Vietnam war: Cluster bombs!
About 80 million bomblets, which failed to explode are today hidden in the ground all over the country. In average every three days one of them explodes, when an
unsuspecting human victims steps upon one of them, either killing the victim or tearing a limb into pieces.
It is remarkable that in the west there is no media coverage about this dreadful situation. The west hardly takes any notice, nor meassures to help this poor country
clearing the ground.
The U.S. contributed about $3.2M per year for clearance in Laos, whereas the U.S. spent $13.3M per day in nine years bombing Laos.
So far, in the last 40 years 1 million bomblets have been cleared. If we go by this speed, in about 3000 years Laos will be safe again.
For more information on this topic, or to help people who have lost a limb and thereby their work due to a cluster bomb visite: http://www.copelaos.org
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