From 1964 to 1973 the United States dropped over 2 million tons of military ordnance over Laos in 580,000 bombing missions. At least 270 million cluster bombs were dropped as part of the bombing campaign and approximately 80 million failed to detonate. In 40 years since the Vietnam war, less than 1% of these deadly munitions has been cleared. They still kill and maim on a daily basis.
Data from a survey completed in Lao P.D.R. in 2009 indicates that unexploded ordnance (UXO) has killed or maimed as many as 50,000 civilians since 1973 (after the Vietnam war ended) in Laos. About 60% of accidents result in death, and 40% of the victims are children.
The cleared land will provide safe areas for agricultural purposes, including clearance of areas currently being used for agriculture, and to open new areas for the villages so that they can become productive rather than subsistent. Two thirds of the Laos countryside is not safe for farming.
IRAUN Finance Department works diligently to raise the estimated US$35 Billion that will be needed to clear this menace from the Lao countryside