MARSHALL ISLANDS JOURNAL
age 14
Friday, June 21, 1985
Volume 16, Number 25
JS.officialsworry about
‘Greenpeace Trauma”
rum page 6
lapese are evacuated to
1.8, hospitals at U.S. goernment expense.
In interviews, U.S. offi-
ialsexpressea sympathy
orthe fears of the islandrs, and support for their
ight to move anywhere
hey pleased. “We don't
iave any vested interest in
,eeping the people on
Rongelap,” one U.S. goernment official said. “If
sumed at the rate of more
than one crab per day per
person. Most Rongeiapese
supplement
their
diet
_ with imported foods.
Some of the smaller is
lands on the northern rim
of the atoll, U.S. officials
say, should not belived on
Thar’ should food be taken
from them, but most Rongelapese live on the main
island of Rongelap, in the
we'd had reason to believe
southern part. Officials
acknowledge thai Kong:
-he U.S. moved people off
Zikini atoll a second time
ship of land in the northern part of the atoll, are
clared
access to
islands.
t was unsafe we'd say $0.”
The official noted that
in 1978 after having denine
years earlier
that Bikini, the site of
atomic tests in the 1950's
was safe to inhabit. The
second move-off came because too much radioact+
vity had stayed in the Bi-
kini food chain. The U.S.
would
have
alerted
the
Rongelapese, the official
said, had it seen convincing data that the inhabited
area of Rongelap was still
unsafe.
U.S. officials say that the
fish
in
the
Rongelap
lagoon are safe to eat with
the exception of the coco-
nut ¢rab, a local delicacy,
which should not be con-
pese, especially those
who had personal ownerunhappy
US,
about
their
officials
loosing
former
expressed
concern that trauma
of the move from Rong-
elap to Mejato could be
worse than danger associa-
ted with radiation levels.
They also expressed con-
cern for the lack of educationsal and health facilities for Rongelapese
on their new atoll.
Shortly after the move
by Greenpeace, the Rongelapese said they had
been deposited on their
nev
atoll
without
the
necessary supplies and
were hungry. A Marshall
5001b09
Islands
|
|
supply
ship
was
diverted to provide food.
U.S. sources note that
the government of the
Marshall Islands had taken
the position that there is
no reason for the Rong-
,elapese to move. The 300
‘Rongelapese pian to ask
the U.S. Congress for 27
million dollars in resettiement money, according to
the news reports.
Under
the
proposed
Compact of Free Association between the Marshal!
{Islands and the United
States, currently being de-
bated in the U.S. Congress,
‘each inhabitant of Rong-
elap is due to receive
about $8,000 per year for
the next 15 years as part
of an agreed-upon package
of nuclear claims compen
sation. This constitutes a
generous sum, US. sources
say, given the Marshall ls
lands
average
annual
income of about $500 to
$700 per year, but slightly
less than the compensation
offered to the inhabitants
of Bikini and Enewetak
under the Compact. tn ad-
dition,
all
atomic
cilai-
mants will continue to re-
- ceive
U.S.
government
agricultural and health services.
,