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How do deminers decide what land to clear first?
Demining organizations usually work with local people to set priorities about which areas to clear. Areas the community says are important, such as wells, paths to markets, schools and clinics, are cleared first. Other less used areas are usually marked off with tape and signs to warn people of the mines. These minefields will be cleared later when all the more important areas have been declared safe.
How are mines removed?
Demining teams use a variety of survey equipment and techniques to determine the size and location of a minefield. Once they know how large the area is they block it off with tape. Physical obstacles such as the size of the area, vegetation, house rubble, and many other things are taken into account and an appropriate demining technique for the area is chosen. Vegetation must be removed before clearance can begin.
Photo: John Rodsted
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Dogs are very important in areas where plastic mines are used or where fighting has caused severe damage to buildings. Some mines do not have a high enough metal content to set off metal detectors, so specially trained dogs that can locate mines by sniffing the explosives are used. The dogs are very well trained and few are injured by mines. Deminers work very slowly, using prodders and metal detectors, which make a noise when metal is found in the ground. It is a painstaking job. The detectors pick up any bit of metal, from old fence wire, to tin cans and scrap metal from cars. Every time metal is found it must be investigated to find out whether or not it is a mine. Using the prodder, a long stick-like tool, held at a 45-degree angle, deminers gently poke through every centimeter of the ground.
If a landmine is found the deminer may dig around the mine with a garden spade-like tool to expose the mine, attach explosives, and explode the landmine in place. But more often, if possible, the mine is disabled and removed, placed in a pit, and blown up later. Many landmines are equipped with anti-handling devices, which makes the mine explode if tilted ten degrees in any direction.
During wars, bombs, grenades and other explosives often don't explode as intended when they hit the ground. These randomly scattered and sometimes hidden bombs are very dangerous, and can often explode when stepped upon, just like a landmine. When deminers find these unexploded bombs, which are called UXOs (unexploded ordnance), they remove them just like they would a landmine.
Is this work dangerous?
Although it doesn't happen very often, sometimes deminers are killed or injured by landmines. To help protect them they wear helmets with face shields, and flak jackets similar to bomb suits, that cover the front of the body. Deminers go through extensive training where they learn safety procedures to help avoid accidents when working in a mined area.
Why can't we use robots or lasers to clear mines?
Mine clearance takes a very long time, so many people are developing new technologies to speed up the demining process. New technologies must meet the 99.6% humanitarian mine clearance standard, which means that these new technologies must be able to remove 99.6% of landmines from a given area before the land is considered safe for civilian use. New technologies must be inexpensive, it must be easy to train local staff how to use and maintain the equipment, and spare parts must be reasonably priced and available locally.
Remember that many of the countries most affected by mines and UXOs such as Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia and Mozambique have varied terrain. Some areas don't have electricity and other things that must be in place to use hi-tech equipment. New technologies must take all these geographical, technical and educational differences into consideration. Robots, lasers and other devices are currently being tested to see if they will meet all the necessary standards, but for now, metal detectors, prodders and dogs are still a deminer's main tools.
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