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the Vietnamese Flag

Vietnam FAQs:

 

Capital: Hanoi

Official language: Vietnamese

Government: Socialist republic, Single-party communist state

Population: 2009 estimate 85,789,573 - the 13th most populous country in the world.

Ethnic groups: Vietnamese people, also called "Viet" or "Kinh", account for 86.2% of the population
Religions: Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have strongly influenced the religious and cultural life of the people. About 85% of Vietnamese identify with Buddhism.

Currency: dong
Time zone: UTC+7
- Summer DST (UTC+7)
Drives: on the right
Internet TLD: .vn

Area: 128,527 sq mi - almost the size of Germany
Climate: climate tends to vary considerably from place to place.
Terrain: hills and densely forested mountains, with level land covering no more than 20%. Mountains account for 40% of the area
Economy: Manufacturing, information technology and high-tech industries form a large and fast-growing part of the national economy.


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Program for Vietnam

 

The Landmine Problem

  • The Vietnam war ended over 25 years ago, but for many Vietnamese, the realities of the war still linger. In the years since the fall of Saigon, over 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance (explosives) left behind from that conflict.*

  • While it costs only $3.00 to lay a landmine it costs as much as $1,000 to remove one*

  • To date PeaceTrees Vietnam (CHAMPS international partner), whose slogan is “Plant a tree…where a mine used to be,” has removed over 1,500 ordnance items and planted over 8,000 trees.

  • Visit the CHAMPS International Vietnam Campaign

 

Focus: Peace Trees

In 1995 PeaceTrees Vietnam was born as a grassroots effort to bring healing, peace and renewal to one of the most war-torn provinces of Vietnam. This is accomplished through the sponsorship of landmine clearance, citizen diplomacy/tree-planting programs for American and Vietnamese citizens on cleared land, victim and survivor assistance and landmines awareness education programs for children. Still today, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and landmines surround the people of Quang Tri Province, threatening their lives and their livelihood as this deadly debris renders much of their land unusable. Nearly every week a person is maimed or killed by a UXO or landmine.


* Quoted from
• PBS : Landmines: War's Lingering Menace