Casualty rates in Cambodia: Tuesday 16 June

After our brief internal meeting, representatives from the Cambodia Mine/ERW Victim Information System (CMVIS), which collects and analyzes information about landmine and ERW casualties and provides emergency survivor assistance services, came to give the artists a brief about mine/ERW casualty statistics.

The CMVIS project manager and two data gatherers presented casualty statistics and explained how they collect information by going to accident locations and interviewing victims and their families. Data gatherers work in each of Cambodia's provinces, and the statistics are distributed widely to be used for numerous purposes, including the mine clearance planning process.

Before the figures were presented, the artists guessed how many casualties (which includes both injuries and death) Cambodia had in 2008. Estimates ranged from 10 to 10,000. No one came close to the actual number.

When mine clearance operations began in the early nineties, there were more than 2,000 casualties every year. In 2008, this figure was 266, and so far, statistics indicate that there will be a further drop in 2009. While 266 casualties is still an unacceptably high number, it is significantly lower than previous years. Studies suggest that the main reason for the drop is better targeting of mine clearance and mine risk education (MRE) activities. As the systems continue to be refined, casualty rates should drop even further – as long as the funding is in place to support these activities.

Since 1994, CMVIS has been run by the Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) in partnership with Handicap International Belgium (HIB), but this year HIB is handing its duties over to the CRC to run CMVIS independently.

When we get to the minefields tomorrow, the artists will see firsthand how people are directly benefitting from clearance activities.