Earlier this month, Norwegian People’s Aid – NPA/RENEW’s non-technical survey (NTS) team reached an important milestone when they visited the last accessible villages in Huong Hoa district and this marks the completion of NTS in all accessible villages (to date) in Quang Tri province, NPA informs.
Moreover, NPA shares that in Long An village of Tan Long commune which is one of the last areas NPA/RENEW conducted NTS, local people were asked if they knew of any explosive ordnance in their village. Mr. Ho Tien and his wife, an ethnic Bru Van Kieu couple who grow cassava in Long An village, confirmed with the team members that they had encountered wartime munitions while farming. “It is such a relief to know that our land will be surveyed and cleared so that local farmers will have safe land to farm,” said 20-year-old Ho Tien.
NPA explains that NTS is an important first step in any survey process, as it allows community members to share their knowledge of explosive ordnance with NPA/RENEW teams. This local information is crucial in helping NPA/RENEW to identify all areas with confirmed contamination from explosive ordnance.
Now that NTS is completed in all areas where NPA/RENEW is able to operate, all the NTS personnel have started training to learn technical survey, so they can join their colleagues in following up on the information learned during NTS.
NPA/RENEW survey and clearance in Quang Tri province is supported by the Government of the United States.
