I stayed near Dubrovnik in the summer of 2005. There was a wildfire burning on on the hills behind us.
The fire traversed the hillside, and every hour or two a landmine would explode.
This was ten years after the war.
I had the good fortune of going to Croatia (as an American) for work about 10 years ago, and I milked that trip hard. What a beautiful country. Dubrovnik, Split, Hvar Island, it was pretty magical.
Conflict zones are the most beautiful places
They make me immediately go “oh I get it”
I wonder when/if places like vietnam will ever achieve this.
Hell, Australia still has WW2 mines.
France still has WWI unexploded ordnance, and keep-out areas are still being de-mined.
This has been going on for a century now.
About 900 tons of explosives are removed each year. Completion in 700 years at the current rate.[1]
I stayed near Dubrovnik in the summer of 2005. There was a wildfire burning on on the hills behind us.
The fire traversed the hillside, and every hour or two a landmine would explode.
This was ten years after the war.
I had the good fortune of going to Croatia (as an American) for work about 10 years ago, and I milked that trip hard. What a beautiful country. Dubrovnik, Split, Hvar Island, it was pretty magical.
Conflict zones are the most beautiful places
They make me immediately go “oh I get it”
I wonder when/if places like vietnam will ever achieve this.
Hell, Australia still has WW2 mines.
France still has WWI unexploded ordnance, and keep-out areas are still being de-mined. This has been going on for a century now. About 900 tons of explosives are removed each year. Completion in 700 years at the current rate.[1]
[1] https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-i/the-red-zone-la...
Is that actual land mines or generic lost explosives and unexploded bombs?
Cause the latter is pretty common in Europe too, but I'm surprised you have actually minefields which haven't been cleared up in Australia.
I imagine a lot has to do with motivation. Canada has UXO that it doesn't clean up as land is abundant.
This feels like a perfect use case for AI.
I visited Vientiane in Laos a couple years ago. One of the more depressing places to visit there is the COPE Center.
It's a group that provides prosthetics to people who have lost body parts due to landmines left over from the Vietnam War.
Even decades later, there are areas in Laos that have so many unexploded bomblets, it's dangerous to do stuff there, or even build.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minefields_in_Croatia
Oof, only 90% survival rate for deminers.
Drones can help these days