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After hearing my prolininary report, the governor of the Mershells
acted imacdiately by providing food and medical supplies for conmmunity relief,
He then met with the couneil at Rougerik and determined the consensus of the
cocmunity to hls own satisfaction.
With council agrcemant the governor began
a series of operations wiich included additional emergency supplies and the
removal of the people from Rongerik to Kwajalein.
On March 14, the Bikinians
boarded a naval vessel for Kvajslain to complete tho second etage of their
wanderings as a displaced population,
There they waited for further
investigation and a higher-level authority decision regarding 2 site for
permanent resettlement.
Indecision at Mvwajalein
On Xwajalein Island the Bikinians meved into the hastily erected tent
camp located betwaen the ocean and the naval facility's air fiele, and adjacent
to a large Marshaliese labor settlement.
The Bikialaens were enabled to
preserve thair separate identity as a transient cosmunity, aac raintained their
own ere had a school and a church for their own use.
.
Thosa who
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wished it and met the qualifications, obtained employment at the naval air
facility in dcmestic service, as unskilled laborers oa road work and gerbaze
detail, and in the laundry or the office.
‘ha administration provided, food and
other necessities for everyona without charge,
,
The council worked with the administration to find another site. |
Atoll was for a third tima rejected bacause of its already lerge population.
unpopulated atoll about 150 miles northwest of Kwajalein, and Kili island
earlicr considered a3 an alternative to Ujelang.
-In mid-Anril, the parexzount chief accompanied the governcr and four
council members, including Juda, for an inspection of Wotho where two islands
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