Git k ie Human Affairs Research Centers SOOO NIE 41st Street 401589 July 5, 1977 P.O. Box 5395 Seattle, Washington 98105 Telephone: (205) $25-3130 CABLE: HARCSEA Mr. dames Berg Staff officer for Micronesia Office of Territorial Affairs United States Department of L8th and "C" Streets Washington, D.C. the Interior 20240 Subject: - Social Psychological Impact Assessment of Marshall Island Rehabitation Process Dear Mr. Berg: As requested in our telephone conversation of June 30, 1977, I have enclosed two papers. The issues paper addresses forced migration as it relates to cultural groups. It's broad in scope but identifies potential problems occurring or about to occur. The brevity of the paper is deliberately restricted by publication space. The second, a concept paper, focuses on specific issues now occurring in the Marshall Island group. While the paper stresses ethics and values associated with rehabitation of Bnewetak and Bikini its real emphasis is on compiling case study data. Both papers are interrelated; the latter, however, proposes a more definitive assessment plan. , The processes and consequences of evacuation and removal of persons from their homelands have concerned me for some time. Invariably, the culture and life style of relocatees are dramatically altered. Home and work patterns must be adjusted toa accommodate existing life styles in the new community. Often value conflicts emerge between residents and relocatees adding to the complications. Issues of this kind are complex, and frankly, not well understood by social scientists. The status of the Marshall Islanders appears to fit this pattern and I fully expect adjustment problems to occur. Rehabitation of Enewetak, Bikini, Japtan and some of the other atolls ian the Marshall Island chain is unique since there are risks associated with the move. This risk introduces new conSiderations to the issue. Portunately, for social science, there are some examples available that could provide some inSight. One possibility is to consider why people would want to return to or rebuild in a high risk environment. Some examples of this follow: BEST COPY AVAILABLE