The severe downpours that continued from 27th of August in South West Japan caused landslide and flooding. The number of evacuees in Saga Prefecture reached 2,200 people at the peak and it is down to 160 people (76 households) on the morning of 5th of September according to Saga Prefecture Disaster Response Headquarters. Although some roads in the region remain closed, the water stoppage that affected 2,500 households has been recovered. The severe rain flooded over 3,000 houses in Saga and the welfare facility in the region are unable to operate due to inundation.

On March 1, 1999, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) came into force, prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines; also calling for the destruction of all existing stockpiles, together with the clearance of all mined areas. Since 2019 marks the 20th year since it took effect, Seiji KONNO, a program officer at our Tokyo office, provides in this article some general information on mine action. We are going to focus on mine clearance in this issue.