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Compensation sought
for atoll blasted
by A-bombs

U.S. tests contaminated much of
Enewetak and its people are seeking
$341 million in compensation

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

As a teen-ager, Ismael John remembers the U.S. government ordering the Navy in 1947 to evacuate everyone from the low-lying Enewetak Atoll so it could be used for atomic weapons testing.

John, 68, who today represents the Western Pacific coral atoll as a senator in the Marshall Islands Parliament, said chiefs back then didn't have enough time to make informed decisions and were pressured to vacate the small chain of islands.

"We didn't have a choice," John said yesterday. "When it was time to move, we moved."

John is part of a delegation of people from Enewetak Atoll who will travel to Washington, D.C., next week with a Hawaii attorney to meet with federal officials. The group is seeking payment of a $341 million claim awarded recently by the Marshall Island's Nuclear Claims Tribunal, which was created under an agreement between the U.S. government and the Marshall Islands.

The award is intended to compensate Enewetak natives for damages suffered as a result of nuclear testing on their land.

"Land means everything to Enewetak people," John said.

The atoll is in the northwestern corner of the Marshall Islands and about 2,500 miles from Oahu. It is made up of about 40 islands surrounding a lagoon of 25 square miles.

The United States in 1944 captured Enewetak from the Japanese. In December 1947, the federal government moved about 150 Enewetak natives to another atoll when it selected Enewetak for its nuclear testing program.

From 1948 to 1958, the United States exploded 43 nuclear bombs around the circle-shaped atoll.

The first test of a hydrogen bomb took place on Oct. 31, 1952. The blast -- 750 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima -- vaporized one island and left a crater one-mile across and 200 feet deep.

Natives were allowed to return to the atoll in 1980 after 33 years of exile on Ujelang Atoll. They found only 815 acres of the total 1,919 total acres of Enewetak suitable for habitation. About 154 acres no longer existed.

"When the elders saw the island after the bombing, they said, 'The Enewetak we knew that was given to us by the creator is now gone,' " said Enewetak council member Kunio Joseph.

The Enewetak people, who number about 1,600 today, now import most of their food.

Enewetak council member Renny Robert said people starved and suffered while in exile on Ujelang Atoll because of the shortage of food and supplies.

"What we went through was unimaginable," she said.

Hawaii attorney Davor Z. Pevec, legal counsel for the people of Enewetak, said at a news conference yesterday the group seeks payment of the award through Congress or the U.S. claims court.

Pevec said $125 million of the $341 million will be used to clear radioactive soil and revitalize the land for crops. The rest of the money will go into a trust to benefit future generations of natives.