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The Color of Death: Legacy of Agent Orange Still Plagues Vietnam After Decades of Peace_我的网站

一 |     Xi hopes quake-hit nation can rebuild itself at early date    President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence on Tuesday to Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake rocked the South American nation on Monday, killing more than 200 people and injuring over 600.     In his message, Xi said he was deeply shocked to learn that a powerful earthquake had caused heavy casualties and significant property loss in Colombia. On behalf of the Chinese government and people, he expressed deep condolences over the deaths and extended sincere sympathies to the bereaved families and the injured.    Xi also expressed confidence that under the leadership of the Colombian government led by de la Espriella, the Colombian people will make concerted efforts to overcome the disaster and rebuild their homes at an early date.    Meanwhile, the China International Development Cooperation Agency, which coordinates foreign aid missions, announced that the nation stands ready to provide assistance within its capabilities to support quake relief efforts in Colombia.    China is closely following the developments and will provide assistance in an appropriate manner based on Colombia's needs, agency spokeswoman Tang Ying said in an online statement on Tuesday.    Rescue efforts across western Colombia continued for a second day as emergency workers dug through the rubble of collapsed buildings in several cities and towns, including Pereira and Cali, amid grim expectations that the death toll from the country's most powerful earthquake in decades could rise.    According to the Colombian Geological Service, the quake hit at 7:34 am on Monday at a depth of 96 kilometers, with its epicenter identified near San Jose del Palmar in the department of Choco, about 400 km from Colombia's capital Bogota.    As much of Choco is accessible only by boat, through the jungle or by airplane, little was known about the extent of damage there.    De la Espriella, who has declared a state of national emergency, traveled to Choco's capital, Quibdo, on Monday night to assess the damage and announced that he had mobilized "the entire military and police apparatus" for relief and rescue operations.    Earlier in the day, he told reporters: "Our intention is to cooperate in any way necessary. Here, there are no distinctions or ideological divisions when it comes to defending our people or showing solidarity."         According to local media reports, 32 cities in the western region have been severely affected, while five departmental capitals — Pereira, Cali, Quibdo, Manizales and Armenia — continue to remain under red alert for aftershocks.     The quake has turned dozens of multistory buildings into piles of concrete and twisted metal in cities such as Pereira, and brought down the towers of a landmark cathedral in Manizales. In Cali, a city of about 2.2 million people, at least 85 people have been confirmed dead. Several floors of a city hospital collapsed during the temblor, trapping many patients.    Seven airports in western Colombia have suspended operations due to structural damage. A video posted on social media ‌and verified by Reuters showed the Cali airport swaying violently and people scurrying for shelter amid collapsing chunks of concrete.    On Monday, the Chinese embassy in Bogota activated an emergency response mechanism to assess the safety of Chinese nationals. No casualties among Chinese citizens were reported as of press time on Tuesday.    The powerful earthquake was also felt in Ecuador and Venezuela, which share their borders with Colombia. In June, two back-to-back temblors in Venezuela had killed more than 6,300 people.                    。    On August 10, 1961, American forces for the first time spayed Agent Orange in Vietnam as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand.,Here’s a closer look into this highly toxic defoliant chemical, the use of which by the US military during the 1955-1975 Vietnam War resulted in up to one million people being disabled, according to the Red Cross of Vietnam’s estimates.,What is Agent Orange?,The defoliant derived its name from the color of the orange-striped US gallon barrels in which the chemical was shipped and stored.,It was created in 1940 and used in the United States as an agricultural defoliant, as it had the ability to kill some plants while leaving others unaffected.,Using the Defense Production Act of 1950, the US government prodded several American companies to make Agent Orange for military use. A 50:50 mixture of the herbicides 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D, the defoliant contains an extremely toxic dioxin compound.,Effects of Agent Orange,A 50:50 mixture of the 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, Agent Orange contains the Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD, the most toxic of the dioxins, classified as a human carcinogen by the US Environmental Protection Agency.,Even short-term exposure to TCDD can cause cancer, liver problems and a severe acne-like skin disease, known as chloracne. The dioxin is also linked to type 2 diabetes, immune system dysfunction, nerve disorders, muscular dysfunction, hormone disruption and heart disease.,Additionally, the chemical can cause miscarriages, spina bifida and other problems with fetal brain and nervous system development.,Use of Agent Orange in Vietnam,During the 1955-1975 Vietnam war, the first US defoliation missions were launched near the Vietnamese village of Dak To in 1961.,The goal was to remove cover and concealment used by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, so as to reveal hidden bases, communications centers and potential targets, and to improve visibility in tracking troop movements.,More than 13 million gallons (about 59 million liters) of Agent Orange was used by the US military in Vietnam, or almost two-thirds of the total amount of herbicides used during the entire Vietnam War.,The chemical was available in slightly different mixtures, sometimes referred to as Agent Orange I, Agent Orange II, Agent Orange III and “Super Orange”.,End of Agent Orange?,In 1969, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) urged the Pentagon to end its use of herbicides containing dioxin, specifically Agent Orange, something that the Department of Defense (DoD) eventually did.,Even so, the defoliation campaign continued, with the US military switching to Agent White, a chemical herbicide that did not contain the dioxin contaminant.,In May 1970, the US Air Force (USAF) flew its last defoliation mission, and almost a year later, the DoD announced that all crop destruction missions would also cease.,The remaining 2.22 million gallons of Agent Orange were moved by the USAF to Johnston Island Atoll in the South Pacific, where they were incinerated.,Legacy,The Vietnamese government said that up to four million people in the country were exposed to Agent Orange, and as many as three million people had suffered illness because of the defoliant.,The Vietnam Red Cross in turn pointed out that the defoliant had affected at least 150,000 children, and that babies in Vietnam are still being born with birth defects due to Agent Orange. In this regard, numerous studies revealed that dioxin levels are still in place in the blood samples of the citizens of both North and South Vietnam.,The chemical also caused immense environmental damage in Vietnam, with more than 3,100,000 hectares (31,000 km2) of forest being defoliated ( for comparison's sake, Taiwan measures 36,197 km2).,Opinion & AnalysisAnniversary of Agent Orange Disaster: Only United Can We Relieve the Suffering of Many Generations10:21 GMT,Agent Orange-related issues also emerged in the US after an increasing number of returning Vietnam veterans and their families began to report a range of health problems, including skin irritations, miscarriages, psychological symptoms, type 2 diabetes, birth defects in children and cancers such as Hodgkin’s disease, prostate cancer and leukemia.,1979 saw a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of 2.4 million US veterans, who were exposed to Agent Orange during their service in Vietnam. In 1984, seven major US chemical companies that manufactured the defoliant agreed to pay $180 million in damages to the veterans or their next of kin.,Vietnam War,The 1955-1975 Vietnam War, which involved Laos and Cambodia, pitted communist North Vietnam and the Viet Cong revolutionary organization against South Vietnam, supported by Washington.,Preconditions for the war pertained to the desire of North Vietnam, which defeated the French colonial administration in 1954, to unify the entire country under a single communist authority, like in the Soviet Union or China. The South Vietnamese government, for its part, sought to preserve a Vietnam more closely aligned with the West.,The US was concerned over the spread of communism to South Vietnam and then to the rest of Asia, which prompted Washington to end money, supplies and military advisers to help the South Vietnamese government.,On August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese boats attacked a US Navy destroyer, the USS Maddox, patrolling in the Gulf of Tonkin near Vietnam, in what was used by the White House as a pretext to escalate the war and send American combat units to the South East Asian country. However, the US costs and casualties in the war prompted Washington to withdraw American troops by 1973, and a couple of years later, South Vietnam fell to a full-scale invasion by the North.,An array of war crimes was committed by the US military during the war, including the My Lai massacre, in which up to 504 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians, including women, children, and infants, were killed by US Army soldiers on March 16, 1968.,Another war crime pertains to Operation Speedy Express, conducted by the US Army in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta between December 1968 and May 1969 as part of the American military’s effort to pacify the Viet Cong. The operation led to 5,000 to 7,000 casualties who were reported to have been civilians.。

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