How We Present the News
WORLD NEWS
Positive Trends
Success Stories
Flops
Agriculture
Business
Culture
Education
Government
Health
Science
World Peace
News by
Country
Maharishi in the World Today
Excellence in Action
Consciousness Based Education
Ideal Society
Index
Invincible World
Action for
Achievement
Announcements
WATCH LIVE
Maharishi® Channel
Maharishi TV
Maharishi Darshan Hindi Press Conferences
Maharishi's Press Conferences and Great Global Events
ULTIMATE GIFTS
Maharishi's
Programmes
Maharishi's
Courses
Maharishi's
Publications
Scintillating
Intelligence
Worldwide Links
Transcendental
Meditation
RESEARCH
Album of Events
Celebration
Calendars
Musicmall ♬
Search
|
Balkan floods may have undone years of landmine detection
by Maja Zuvela
Reuters Translate This Article
20 May 2014
* More than 100,000 landmines believed dotted around Bosnia
* Fears that floods, landslides may have moved them
* More than 600 people killed by landmines since war
KARAKCIJE, Bosnia (Reuters) - When Mehmedalija Djapic bought his house on the banks of the River Bosna after the 1992-95 war, he had no idea the land around it was laced with landmines.
Fourteen years passed before the deminers scouring Bosnia detected his minefield and several months ago began the painstaking work of marking it with yellow tape and skull-and-crossbone signs.
In the wake of the worst floods to hit the Balkans in living memory, Djapic's courtyard was packed on Tuesday with rescue teams who fear the work they have done so far was in vain.
Authorities are warning that many of the more than 100,000 remaining landmines dotted across Bosnia have been dislodged by heavy rain, floodwaters and hundreds of landslides, shifting beyond the markers.
'Luck has been on my side so far,' said Djapic, a 75-year-old refugee from eastern Bosnia.
'Last week the river was raging. I could feel the ground shaking under my feet and the waters reached the courtyard, but now the deminers are back we feel safe again,' he said.
'The most difficult thing is to make my grandchildren understand they cannot play ball.'
Mine removal experts estimate that more than 120,000 landmines remain planted across Bosnia, the legacy of a war that killed 100,000 people and displaced more than a million.
Bosnia's Mine Action Centre (MAC) has appealed for international help in getting more equipment and satellite screening to track the movement of mines after the heaviest rainfall in the Balkans since records began 120 years ago.
'There have been a number of reports that mines resurfaced after the flood and that landslides have moved whole minefields and markings,' MAC head Sasa Obradovic told Reuters.
'We are struggling to pinpoint all these areas and warn people in time.'
MAC says that more than 600 people have been killed and more than 1,700 more have been wounded in landmine accidents since the war ended in 1995. Obradovic said four people had been killed and 12 wounded this year alone.
He put the cost of ridding the country completely of landmines at 300 million euros ($412 million) by 2019. The country's reliance on agriculture and logging means few can afford not to take the risk.
'Bearing in mind that the impoverished population in rural areas relies on logging as the only source of income, there's a big risk of new incidents after such rainfall,' Obradovic said.
($1 = 0.7289 Euros)
(Editing by Matt Robinson/Ruth Pitchford)
Copyright © 2014 Reuters
Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. 'Reuters' and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies. For additional information on other Reuters media services please visit reuters.com/newsagency.
Global Good News comment:
Maharishi's Vedic Approach can solve the problems reflected in the above article and in all areas of life: agriculture, business, culture, education, government, and world peace. For more information please visit: http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/
Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:
|
|