Returning home: a village gets its land back after clearance
After eighteen months of survey and clearance work, the community of Nova Hreblya received the final handover documents for 42 hectares of farmland. It is the largest single release in the region this year.
The team started with a non-technical survey: interviews with residents, mapping of accident sites and a review of satellite imagery. Only then did manual clearance begin, metre by metre.
What the clearance looked like
Two teams worked in parallel from April to August. Below are photographs from the last week of work, when the final lanes were being handed over to the quality control team.
What it means for the village
The released land includes the shortest route between the village and the school, which families had been avoiding since 2022. It also covers pasture that three households depend on.
We used to walk around that field for two years. Now the children take the short way to school again, and the farmer is back on his land.
How the handover works
Every released area is checked by an independent quality control team before the handover certificate is signed. The video below shows the final inspection.
The process in short:
- Non-technical survey and community interviews
- Technical survey of the suspected area
- Manual clearance lane by lane
- Independent quality control
- Handover to the local authority
Numbers:
- 42 hectares released
- 18 months of work
- 2 teams, 14 deminers
