ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <TITLE>Survey Action Center - Press Release (10-May-2005)</TITLE> <style> <!-- A:link:      {color:#CC0033; text-decoration:underline} A:visited:   {color:#CC0033; text-decoration:undeline} A:active:    {color:#000099; text-decoration:none} A:hover:     {color:#000099;              text-decoration:none} --> </style> </head> <BODY BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC"> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=425 border=0 HEIGHT="10" ALIGN="CENTER"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD height=25><TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR><TD HEIGHT="0" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2"><B><IMG NAME="top" SRC="../images/top_press_1.gif" WIDTH="588" HEIGHT="64" BORDER="0"></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD HEIGHT="1" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2"><TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR><TD WIDTH="34%"> <IMG SRC="../images/SACMineHeader1_sm_1.jpg" WIDTH="197" HEIGHT="52"></TD> <TD WIDTH="37%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"><DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><SPAN CLASS="BlackNormal"><FONT FACE="arial"><SPAN CLASS="BlackNormal"> <FONT FACE="arial"><B><SPAN CLASS="YellowBold"><FONT COLOR="#FF9900" FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> LIS Explorer<BR><font size=-1> May 10, 2005</font> </FONT></SPAN></B></FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV></TD><TD WIDTH="29%"><DIV ALIGN="RIGHT"> <SPAN CLASS="BlackNormal"><FONT FACE="arial"><SPAN CLASS="BlackNormal"><FONT FACE="arial"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN CLASS="RedBold"> <IMG SRC="../images/SACMineHeader2_sm_2.jpg" WIDTH="197" HEIGHT="52"></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV></TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR><TD HEIGHT="1" COLSPAN="2"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" align="center" dwcopytype="CopyTableRow" BORDERCOLOR="#000099"> <tr><td align="right" colspan="2" CLASS="BlackSmall" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"><FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <A HREF="http://www.sac-na.org/index.html"><FONT SIZE="1"> <i>Jump to Website</i></FONT></A></FONT></td></tr> <tr><td valign="top" align="center" colspan="2" CLASS="BlackSmall" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="3" COLOR="#000099"> <SPAN CLASS="HeaderRedBold"><b><u>The Impact of Landmines Exposed</u></b></span></font><br>&nbsp;<br> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000"> New Reference Tool Enables Public Access to Databases Generated<br> by the Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) </FONT> </td></tr> <tr><td valign="top" align="center" colspan="2" CLASS="BlackSmall" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099"><i>  The Landmine Impact Survey is the only national mine action database in the public domain. Our new LIS Explorer makes it even easier and more efficient to access this data for prioritization of mine action strategies. </i></FONT> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="1" COLOR="#000099"><br>&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bob Eaton, Executive Director, Survey Action Center, April 2005 </FONT> </td></tr> <tr><td valign="top" align="left" colspan="2" CLASS="BlackSmall" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="2"> The Survey Action Center (SAC) has created a Web-based tool, the  <b>LIS Explorer</b> <br> ( <A HREF="http://www.sac-na.org/lisexplorer/index.html" TARGET="_blank">www.sac-na.org/lisexplorer/index.html</a> ) which will enable the public to interactively filter and display information directly from Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) databases. &nbsp; Such access will improve donor and host nations abilities to even more efficiently identify minefields that pose the greatest threat to public health and economic growth. &nbsp; Funding for this project has been provided by the U.S. Department of State. <br>&nbsp;<br> Examples of questions the LIS Explorer can answer for you: How many recent landmine victims in Yemen were girls between the ages of 4 and 14, were herding at the time of the incident, lost an appendage, and never received any survivors assistance? Where are all the suspected hazard areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina that report antipersonnel mines that block access to drinking water within 500 meters of a community center with a population greater than 1000 residents? These and many other questions that are literally a matter of life and death are now available to everyone via a few keystrokes on the LIS Explorer. <br>&nbsp;<br> Landmine Impact Surveys have been conducted in ten countries with landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination, to date. The surveys are conducted at the community level to assess the number of mine victims and socio-economic impact on the livelihood of residents as a direct result of this contamination. Comprehensive data is collected about such communities, their suspected hazard areas, and their mine victims within the preceding two year period. <br>&nbsp;<br> The following LIS country databases are currently available via the LIS Explorer (additional countries will be added as the data becomes available). <ul> <li>Bosnia and Herzegovina</li> <li>Chad</li> <li>Somalia (Phase 1)</li> <li>Thailand</li> <li>Yemen</li> </ul> The LIS data provides important information for use by the mine action community, namely, donors, national authorities, and other mine action agencies in the international effort to eliminate or control the impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance left from past conflicts. <br>&nbsp;<br> The Survey Action Center (SAC) is a non profit organization based in Takoma Park, Maryland that conducts Landmine Impact Surveys in mine affected countries. SAC is the executing arm of the Survey Working Group (SWG), which sets the international standards for the LIS. The SWG is composed of individuals, government donor agencies, NGOs, and international organizations interested in the LIS. For more information please visit our website at <A HREF="http://www.sac-na.org/" TARGET="_blank">www.sac-na.org</a>. </FONT> </td></tr> <tr><td valign="top" align="center" colspan="2" CLASS="BlackSmall" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="2"> For more information on the LIS Explorer, please contact:</font></td></tr><tr> <td valign="top" align="right" colspan="1" CLASS="BlackSmall" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="2"> <b>Craig Williams</b><br> Senior Information Officer<br> Tel: +1-301-891-9192<br> Email: <A HREF="mailto:craig@sac-na.org">Craig@sac-na.org</a></font></td> <td valign="top" align="left" colspan="1" CLASS="BlackSmall" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="2"> <b>Survey Action Center</b><br> 6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 240<br> Takoma Park, MD 20912<br> <A HREF="http://www.sac-na.org/" TARGET="_blank">www.sac-na.org</a><br> </font></td> </tr></table></TD></TR> <TR><TD HEIGHT="1" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2"><IMG SRC="../images/bottom_small.gif" WIDTH="588" HEIGHT="65"></TD></TR> <TR BGCOLOR="#000099"><TD COLSPAN="2"><DIV ALIGN="CENTER" CLASS="whiteSmall"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center" dwcopytype="CopyTableRow"> <tr><td colspan="2" CLASS="BlackSmall"><P ALIGN="CENTER" CLASS="whiteSmall"> <FONT FACE="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF">6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 240 - Takoma Park, MD 20912 - United States of America <BR>Phone: +1.301.891.9192 - Fax: +1.301.891.9193 - E-mail:<A HREF="mailto:sac@sac-na.org"><FONT COLOR="#CC0033">sac@sac-na.org</FONT></A> - Website:<A HREF="http://www.sac-na.org" TARGET="_blank"><FONT COLOR="#CC0033">www.sac-na.org</FONT></A></FONT></P></td></tr> </table></DIV></TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR> </TBODY></TABLE><DIV ALIGN="CENTER"></DIV><DIV ALIGN="RIGHT"><P>&nbsp;</P></DIV> </BODY></HTML>