232 DASA 2019-2 put to obtain enough food, inasmuch as a fire had burned over much of the atoll and because Rongerik is much smaller than their home atoll of Bikini, We reported this situation as forcefully as possible, The Navy had the responsibility for the Marshall Islands at that time. They moved these people to Kwajalein and then to Kili, a small island south of Kwajalein, and there -hey remained. The people trom Eniwetok, on the other hand, were evacuated to Ujelang, another island, They are not happy at Ujelang, again because it's not their ancestral home. It's smaller than Eniwetok and they would like very much to go home. However, they would find their former heme greatly changed. To restore one of these atolls to its pre-test site condition would require Herculean effort. It isn't that life cannot go on there but that the very basis of their economy, the coconut, has been largely destroyed. It would take maybe 10 or 12 years to replant these areas with coconuts and make them pro- ductive. We who have worked there have many friends among these people. We hopethat it will be possible to get them back home again. I[ think this is a blight on our national record not to have done so. CONARD: We certainly are trying to, aren't we? DONALDSON: I have no knowledge of it. TAYLOR: One gets the impression that the ebb and flow of the sea plays at least a major role in restoring the islands, restoring the atolls to their original states. Do you want to say anything about the relevance to this, to a similar situation on land, for example, in Nevada? DONALDSON: The ebb and flow of the sea must play a very im_ portant role. The atolls are built from material extracted from the sea, and as they erode and weather the material is returned to the sea. During the years we have worked in the Marshalls we have seen some reefs form and others wash away.