Nearly three decades after the Vietnam War ended, land mines kill and maim farmers and other Vietnamese almost weekly, and de-mining efforts are focusing on the wrong areas, according to the first comprehensive postwar study, released Wednesday.

The study, funded by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, is the first look at the ongoing casualties after the war. No national studies on land mines and unexploded ordnance have ever been done.

The study, conducted over a three-week period in August 2002, takes an in-depth look at one district in central Quang Tri province, the site of the former demilitarized zone.

Especially hard-hit was Trieu Phong, a rural, rice-farming community where many villagers are missing one or more limbs. Some 1,270 people have been killed or injured in the district since 1975. Nearly half the victims were aged 16 to 30, and 80 percent were men, the study found.

Researchers found 46 percent of the accidents in Trieu Phong occurred among farmers working the fields — an indication de-mining efforts, mainly targeting former U.S. bases, are not concentrated where they would have the greatest impact.

"The real problem up to now that's been causing death and injuries has not been the old military bases, but it's debris and ordnance in the communities and around the house and in the fields," said Chuck Searcy, country representative for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which funded the study through a partnership with Quang Tri provincial officials.

"Very little resources have been applied to that, and it's very obvious now that that should be the top priority," he said

Farmers Le Tat Ha, 59, and his son, Toan, 31, from Trieu Thuong village, are examples of the impact of the leftover explosives. Ha accidentally hit a bomb with a hoe while farming in June 1975, two months after the war ended. The explosion, which threw him more than 30 feet and broke his arms, left shrapnel embedded in his chest, arms and legs.

"I still feel pain now, especially when the weather changes," he said.

His son set off another explosion more than a decade later while tilling the fields as a teenager. The fingers on his left hand were blown off, making most farm work impossible.

The Vietnamese military conducted sweeps of the area for a decade after the war ended, but efforts only focused on removing ordnance found above ground.

Non-governmental organizations and other humanitarian groups have assisted in de-mining operations more recently, but flooding, soil erosion and farming have continued to unearth deadly ordnance.

Over a five-day period during the survey, 428 unexploded devices were found, including mortars, artillery shells, cluster bomblets, rockets and grenades.

The study also found that 8 percent of all incidents involved scavengers searching for ordnance to sell for scrap metal.

Phan Xuan Quang, 32, said he's lost many friends that way, but he must accept the risk. As a farmer, he makes only $64 a year.

"We don't have enough land to grow rice or trees," said Quang, who earns $6.50 to $13 for each bomb he digs up. "I know it is dangerous. (But) there's nothing I can do to earn extra money to support my family."

According to another recent study funded by UNICEF and the veterans' group, only 6 percent of the 6,788 casualties in the province since the war were on old military bases.

Both studies found the number of victims has decreased as public awareness grows through school programs and television ads. But the casualties in Quang Tri province alone still surpass rates in places with more recent conflicts, such as Kosovo, Croatia and Yemen.

Local officials say they hope the findings will attract the interest of international mine clearance organizations.

"Many people come here and don't have the information and the numbers," said project coordinator Hoang Nam, "They can (now) know how serious it is."

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