Chapter IT — Return to Rongelap school, warehouses, and water systems. Plans also included some dwellings and cisterns on nearby islands. We designed plansfor the dispensary and requested a two-wayradio to be installed for medical consultations and emer- During the three years on Ejet [sland, the ° Rongeiap people longed to return,to theiratoll: and weregreatly disappointed at the length of time they were kept away. Meanwhile, the deserted village at Rongelap had deteriorated with overgrowth of weeds and vines, their thatched-roof huts were sagging or collapséd, gencies. In February 1957, the AEC, with concurrence of the High Commissionerof the Trust and the church had burned (B-3). By 1957, there had been 10 radiological surveys of Rongelap: seven by the Applied Fisheries Laboratory of the University of Washington and three by the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory. As early as June 1956, surveys indicated that the radiation leveis on Rongelap Isiand had declined to such a extent that the island might soon be habitable. The AEC, with the concurrence of the Trust Territory Government, authorized Holmes and Narver (a Los Angeles construction company) to plan a new village on Rongelap in conference with the AEC, Trust Territory, and the . Rongelap people. The new village would include homes, a church, council house, dispensary, Territory, announced that Rongelap could again be inhabited and construction of the village began (B-3). By June, the construction was com- | pleted and an LST was sent to Majuroto transport the people home. Thefollowing accountis excerpted from the Holmes and Narver, Inc. Report of Repatriation of the Rongelap People for the Atomic Energy Commission, Albuquerque Operation Office, Contract AT(29-2)-20, Nov. 1987. Boarding the LST were 250 Rongelap people with their personal belongingscar- ried in every conceivable kind of container, from woven mats to galvanized washtubs i > emce oa" Rentege at Page> fener PDK eae New village at Rongelap. S004 1b2 s a: rheie ire: ; Tea. whe Be j