Public awareness :

UXO: Danger of explosives, toxic fall-out

by Harshi Gunawardana

De-mining expert

Today, and for some time to come, the general public in the surroundings of the Salawa Army ammunition deport should beware of the risks they face from unexploded bombs, shells and toxic chemical residues scattered by the fire and massive blasts of June 5. The massive explosions have scattered pieces of shattered artillery guns, mortars, other smaller firearms, and quantities of burning explosive material over a wide radius of the surrounding, densely populated countryside.

What to look out for :

Given the type of warfare in the country in recent decades, the ‘Unexploded Ordnance’ (UXO) in the Salawa storage can be tank shells, mortar bombs, fuses, grenades, large and small bombs including sub-munitions, rockets and missiles. They are usually made of metal or plastic. The toxic substances of grenades and mortars, may contain explosives, white phosphorus, chemical agents, or illumination flares, depending on their intended use. Rockets or missiles, in addition to their propulsion chemicals, can be filled with explosives, toxic chemicals, white phosphorus, sub-munitions, riot-control chemical agents such as tear-gas, or illumination flares. Bombs hold explosive or chemical filler and may consist of one or multiple pieces.

What could happen with UXOs

All such un-exploded ordnance (UXO) are often extremely unstable and can detonate at the slightest touch. Human exposure to exploding UXO could cause serious injury, dismemberment, or death. Common UXO injuries include multiple traumatic amputations of limbs; burns; puncture wounds; lacerations from fragmentation; ruptured eardrums; and blindness from fragmentation or from the blast. At a greater distance from the blast, individuals are likely to suffer less concentrated puncture wounds from fragmentation. The range at which this can be lethal depends upon the particular weapon and could vary from ten to many hundreds of metres. The sudden explosions triggered by unknowing human interventions can damage property and prevent the use of infrastructure and community resources, including housing, water and irrigation systems.

Protecting children:

Children are particularly vulnerable to UXO dangers as reported worldwide. Along with an unfamiliarity of the various types of explosives and children’s natural curiosity and playful tendencies, children are likely to pick up strange objects, such as the infamous toy-like mortar bombs and scrap metal remnants of weapons.

Long term hazards

There is a possible hazard of scattered and un-cleared UXO for some time to come. This can be mitigated through UXO risk education, responsive local threat assessments and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD).

Sri Lanka has extensive experience in conducting Risk Education to minimize deaths and injuries from landmines and ‘Explosive Remnants of War’ (ERW) among high-risk communities in the Northern Province. It is an integral component of long-term humanitarian de-mining program since the end of the war in 2009. The ‘Mine Risk Education’ (MRE) program was expanded by UNICEF, in partnership with the National Mine Action Centre, Sri Lankan Ministry of Education and other local and UN organizations, to serve the hundreds of thousands of people returning home to former war zones, where ERW and landmines still contaminate the areas. MRE is defined as ‘activities which seek to reduce the risk of injury from mines/ERW by raising awareness of men, women and children in accordance with their different vulnerabilities, roles and needs and promoting behavioural change’.

This approach indicates the paramount need for an emergency ‘UXO Risk Education’ program to inform residents in the Kosgama area about the dangers of UXO when moving through the affected areas around the camp or on returning to their homes.

What to do:

The general public should also be educated of the risks if they transit this region. This is because people are unfamiliar with the exact nature and extent of the threat they would face. The objective of the Risk Education should be to provide sufficient information to residents and travellers, particularly children in Saalaawa and Kosgama to enable them to recognize such UXO.

*On identifying any item of UXO, be cautious; do not touch or approach the object.

*Report UXO to the appropriate authorities (Police/Army); the authorities can then remove the items, making the area safe for people and creating an environment where economic and social development can occur, free from the constraints imposed by contamination.

*Children and adults can practise safe behaviour if educated about UXO risks and how to react when encountering UXO at home, in the garden, school yard, or by the road.

*Public risk education can also take the form of dissemination through presentations to large groups of people, posters, leaflets, billboards, brochures, broadcast messages via radio and TV channels.

Dr. U Anura Kumara, Dean, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce,University of Sri Jayewardenepura suggests that media should stop broadcasting visuals of professionals (military) handling UXO, because ordinary people might relax their guard and behave incautiously falling prey to fatal accidents.

Kosgama area residents can be safe if they understand how to protect themselves and their families from injury and death, and report munitions for safe removal and destruction.

The writer was Mine Risk Education (MRE) Manager with the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) with extensive experience working in Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Myanmar, Philippines and Ukraine.