The risks of war doesn’t end with the ceasefire, but it extends to its aftermath, as its  effects and remnants remain alarming, the Mines and war remnants of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s considered a great threat to the families who are living in the border areas.
In order to preserve the safety of the citizens, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS)has conducted continuous campaigns to raise awareness of the potential dangers of these war wastes, the IRCS has invested in its recent campaign the celebrations of Nowruz holidays, where families go out on leisure tourism trips to a number of border areas of beautiful nature for hiking and recreation.
The director of the programs department in the IRCS Mr. Mohsen Abdel-Hassan, confirmed that the IRCS’s team in Wasit branch have implemented a field activity that coincided with the influx of a large number of families and youth to these border areas.”
Mr. Mohsen has pointed out that conducting a field survey of the area by the work team and publishing warning boards and posters before the arrival of the families, the campaign covered the entrances of Badra district and Zurbatiyah sub-district, and the guidelines publications were distributed to families who use personal wheels and intend to go to the border or the affected areas, and to emphasise on the danger of the affected area and the need to adhere to the warning instructions  for their safety.
The director of the program department has clarified,’’The IRCS’s teams went to the areas of (Badra, Jassan, Zurbatiyeh, the village of Ramziar, Ayyun al-Maa district) on the border with Iran and carried out awareness campaigns for families and youth who are celebrating the above-mentioned occasion and the dormant families in those areas’’.
Mohsen has continued that the types of war remnants and their deadly danger have been defined, and the necessity of reporting about the suspicious objects and not approaching them, as they pose a great danger when messing up with it and not restricting with safety procedures.
The departments of mines and war remnants affairs has recorded several casualties in different parts of the country, especially in the border areas.
The awareness and guidance campaigns come as an important first step to prevent the potential risks so that these areas are examined by the competent authorities and to confirm that they are free of remnants, during the awareness campaign, more than 2,250 awareness-raising publications were distributed, and the number of those targeted reached more than 2,500 people of different age groups.
It is worth mentioning that this campaign is not the first in these areas as they are contaminated with war remnants and there is an existing risk of infection.