Mitch Moves Mines

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Mitch Moves Mines

It's a tragedy compounded by tragedy. Floods and landslides from
Hurricane Mitch dislodged landmines in Honduras and Nicaragua, killing
and injuring numerous people and making the task of wide-area landmine
removal even more difficult. Here are the URLs for two recent articles
on the subject.

http://www.seattletimes.com/news/nation-world/html98/mine_111698.html

http://cnn.com/WORLD/americas/9812/02/PM-Mitch-LandMines.ap/index.html

Two winters ago, when I left Yosemite ahead of floods that washed heavy
picnic stables and iron fireplace griddles down the Merced River, I
started to wonder what impact flooding might have on buried unexploded
ordnance. Clearly, rushing waters, particularly those which peak rarely,
can move and unearth dangerous weapons.

What's the best risk management strategy? If it's fairly certain that
flooding will cause significant erosion within the next couple of years,
then deep subsurface clearance probably makes sense. In other case,
riverbeds and flooded areas should probably be surveyed after each
signifcant event. Where floods (or their magnitude) are totally
unexpected, maybe its best to treat such disasters as sources of new
contamination, but even then it's important to link responses to any
previous responses made in the area.

But how does one determine when each response is most appropriate?

Lenny

-- 

Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org