Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

FROM THE FIELD

Building futures
29 May 2009 11:09:00 GMT
 Source: MAG (Mines Advisory Group)
Website: Website: http://www.maginternational.org

220485 logo
Factory owner Kamel Fahas thanks everyone who has supported the clearance programmes to make his property safe: "This money is going to the right place: for construction."
Previous | Next
Factory owner Kamel Fahas thanks everyone who has supported the clearance programmes to make his property safe: "This money is going to the right place: for construction."
David Harbin / MAG

Background

•  Lebanon crisis

MORE >>
The town of Aadchit in southern Lebanon is especially well-known to MAG's 'searchers' - the technicians involved in locating and destroying cluster bombs - as it was among the most intensely bombed areas during the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

MAG staff can recall removing and destroying hundreds of cluster submunitions, which were scattered on streets and rooftops and in fields and trees immediately after the war. In all, there were 31 Cluster Bomb Unit Strike Locations ("CBU strikes") in Aadchit.

Within one of the CBU strikes is a small brick factory that provides a livelihood for six workers and their families. Walid, a labourer, mixes concrete with a shovel, before it is put in a mould to dry and transform into the grey bricks that are common in the newly constructed buildings that dot the region.

The factory owner, Kamel Fahas, explains how he found his property after the war:

"There was a huge crater in the middle of the road, and I couldn't reach the factory. I had to wait for a bulldozer to plow over the crater. When I finally reached it, I found a lot of shrapnel damage, broken stones, and many strange items."

The items were lethal M-77 cluster submunitions, each about the size of a salt shaker with distinctive white ribbons. Fahas immediately called the Lebanese military, who in turn contacted the Mine Action Coordination Centre (MACC). As MAG was on the ground immediately after the war, the MACC tasked MAG's teams with removing and destroying the items.

With the surface cleared of the bombs, Fahas repaired his property. Strong demand for construction supplies to repair war damage has kept the factory busy. Asked if the war was good for business, Fahas laughs: "We need peace more than good business!"

The fields immediately adjacent to the factory are taped off and marked for future subsurface clearance by MAG. Fahas points to them and says: "If MAG didn't clear this land, we would have to do it ourselves."

He thanks everyone who has supported the clearance programmes: "This money is going to the right place: for construction."

For latest news from MAG's work in Lebanon, please visit: www.maginternational.org/lebanon


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  Landmines and explosives

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  Lebanon crisis

MORE >>

Members

•  MAG (Mines Advisory Group)

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Building futures
MAG - UK

•  Helping to end the 'hungry season'
MAG - UK

•  Extra-ordinary volunteering: young people experience life in the developing world
Christian Aid - UK

•  MAG Burundi - April 2009 update
MAG - UK

•  Peace marathon unites children across Lebanon
World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe/ Central Asia

MORE >>

Latest news

•  US Out of Step on Cluster Bomb Ban

•  Mine blast kills 2 Yemen fishermen - agency

•  IMF denies reports it negotiated with Hezbollah

•  FEATURE-Slain leaders' heirs vie for Lebanon votes

•  PAKISTAN: Fear amid reports of landmine-laying in Mingora

MORE >>

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Background information

Briefings
Lebanon crisis - [Who works where]

Topics
Landmines and explosives
Facts & figures
Lebanon

Related articles

Breaking stories
 US Out of Step on Cluster Bomb Ban (1 minute ago)

Mine blast kills 2 Yemen fishermen - agency (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 Laos still paying the price of Vietnam war (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 Building futures (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Explosives and plumbing in the middle of nowhere (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Global projected land use changes, 1700-2050 (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-05-16T160840Z_01_ISL20_RTRIDSP_2_PAKISTAN_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/ISL20.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-05-15T122117Z_01_LBN07_RTRIDSP_2_LEBANON_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/LBN07.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-05-15T121942Z_01_LBN06_RTRIDSP_2_LEBANON_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/LBN06.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-05-15T121818Z_01_LBN05_RTRIDSP_2_LEBANON_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/LBN05.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-05-14T172913Z_01_CA503_RTRIDSP_2_EGYPTEGYPT_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/CA503.htm

Supporters of Shi'ite Muslims hold flags of their group and Lebanese Hezbollah (yellow L) during a protest against the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the State of Israel in Karachi ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Fri May 29 11:12:44 2009