Fund-raiser will help
nuclear testing victims

A Honolulu fund-raising event Saturday will benefit South Pacific islanders who lost their homes and endure health problems because of U.S. nuclear testing in the region 50 years ago.

The program will include music and dance from the Marshall Islands, as well as testimony from survivors of the hydrogen bomb testing that continued from 1946 to 1958 in the island group 2,285 miles southwest of Hawaii.

Marshallese food will be served at the event at the Honolulu Marshallese Ministry, 181 S. Kukui St. The event, running from 5 to 8 p.m., is free and open to the public.

University of Hawaii journalism professor Beverly Keever will sign copies of her recent book, "News Zero: The New York Times and the Bomb," about media complicity in the government news blackout at the time of the testing.

Money is being raised to provide transportation for survivors on the mainland and elsewhere to attend the March 1 ceremonies in Majuro commemorating the anniversary of Bravo, the detonation of the first U.S. hydrogen bomb.

ERUB, an organization of residents from Enewetak, Rongelap, Utrik and Bikini atolls, is the sponsor.