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Afghanistan + 1 more

Khost & Paktika Update No. 57 - 22 April 2015

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As people began crossing into Afghanistan in mid-June, a number of families settled in an open area in Gurboz district, known as Gulan. When agencies started delivering assistance to the new refugee camp, it became apparent that unfortunately the area was mined. UNMAS and partner agencies including Halo Trust began clearing the land to make it safe for the refugees and conducting extensive education among the population to increase awareness and understanding of the risks.

With support from CERF funding and CHF funding in 2014, the camp has been fully cleared. The first phase began with clearing eight hazard locations that were deemed high impact and eventually covered the entire camp by the end of March. To date the 919,546 m in Gulan camp has been cleared as well as 1,045,549 m around the camp where refugees have settled more recently. At the same time, ARCS, OMAR and MDC have provided mine/ERW risk education to nearly 69,000 individuals. Fifty-three anti-tank mines and 21 items of unexploded ordnance have been identified and destroyed, which demonstrates the impact that these projects have had. Moving forward, Halo Trust and UNMAS are planning on continuing to clear areas where refugees have settled and that could provide a risk to people residing in the area.