Mell What does a land mine do?
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it.
What are the five pillars of mine action?
Therefore, the present guidelines address the five main pillars identified by the UN for mine action: a) Mine Risk Education (MRE); b) Humanitarian Demining (i.e. mine and ERW survey, mapping, marking and clearance); c) Victim Assistance, including rehabilitation and reintegration; d) Physical Security and Stockpile …
What are 3 effects of landmines?
Landmines also impede development. Mines along roads and railroad tracks prevent refugee return and challenge aid delivery. They cut off access to markets, schools, work and water. The mining of agricultural land leads to malnutrition, famine and starvation.
What are land mines made of?
Made of plastic, metal, or other materials, mines contain explosives and some contain pieces of shrapnel. A landmine blast can be fatal or cause injuries such as blindness, burns, damaged limbs, and shrapnel wounds.
Can you survive a landmine?
This means that, in general, the best way to survive a bounding mine is to throw yourself flat on the ground, face down. If you’re close enough, most of the shrapnel will pass over you. The best-known bounding mines, the German S-Mine class, had a four-second time delay on the fuse.
What is the blast radius of a land mine?
Area effect bounding mines The balls or metal shards within the mine are projected over a minimum radius of 82 feet at an angle of 360°, killing within a range of 115 feet or more, and causing serious injury at a distance of over 328 feet.
What does Unmas stand for?
United Nations Mine Action Service
Established in 1997, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) leads, coordinates, and implements projects and programmes to mitigate the threats posed by explosive ordnance to the benefit of millions of people worldwide.
What is humanitarian demining?
Humanitarian demining, i.e. mine and ERW survey, land release, mapping, marking and clearance. Advocacy to promote policies and practices that will reduce the threat from landmines and ERW, usually in the context of disarmament and international humanitarian law.
How many people have died of landmines?
For the fourth successive year, in 2019, the highest number of annual casualties was caused by improvised mines: from the total of 5,554 mine casualties recorded in 2019, 2,994 people were killed or injured by improvised mines.
How many people are killed by mines each year?
Mining is deadly More people are killed or injured in the mining industry than in any other industry. More than 15,000 miners are killed every year – and this is just the official number of deaths.
Can you disarm a landmine?
In most cases, there is absolutely nothing you can do. Forget the Hollywood trope about stepping on a mine and then leaving your foot in place. Most landmines will explode instantaneously once your trigger the fuze.
How long does a landmine last?
A land mine can remain active for up to 50 years. Land mines are cheap and effective when deployed, but are expensive and dangerous to remove. Most mines can be boobytrapped, and some of them are just to make the game more interesting. A land mine can remain active for up to 50 years.
What do you need to know about landmines?
Landmines are any type of container of explosive material than can be triggered when it comes into contact with a person or a vehicle. The explosive blast or fragments of a landmine are intended to incapacitate a person or vehicle. Landmines are generally buried 6 inches (15 centimeters) under the surface or simply laid above ground.
Why are there so many landmines in Africa?
In addition, much of its farmable land is unusable because of landmines. “Perhaps the most devastating use of land mines was the random dissection of mines in fields and along access paths to stop peasants from producing food,” notes Human Rights Watch Africa in a report entitled “Land Mines and Economic Life”.
How big is the average size of a landmine?
The explosive blast or fragments of a landmine are intended to incapacitate a person or vehicle. Landmines are generally buried 6 inches (15 centimeters) under the surface or simply laid above ground.
Why are there so many landmines in Iraq?
Iraq is severely affected by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a result of the 1991 Gulf War, the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran War, two decades of internal conflict, and even World War Two. Landmines and UXO pose a problem in the north, along the Iran-Iraq border, and throughout the central and southern regions of the country.