Posted on: Saturday, February 12, 2005

Bikini Atoll survivors to gather 51 years later

Advertiser Staff

Conferences in Honolulu and in Majuro, Marshall Islands, will commemorate the 51st anniversary of the first U.S. hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll, gatherings that will unite survivors of exposure to nuclear radiation.

The conferences are set for Feb. 25 to March 1 in Majuro; and March 2 to 5 at Camp Pu'u Kahea in Wai'anae.

Dr. Lyudmyla Porokhnyak, a survivor of the 1986 nuclear-reactor disaster at Chernobyl, will attend both conferences. She is medical director of the Ukrainian nonprofit organization Zhinocha Hromada (Women's Society).

March 1 is the anniversary of the test of the "Bravo" bomb, delivering a force 1,000 times that of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. It was the first of 67 tests that affected the Marshallese people.

Deadline is Feb. 26 to register for the O'ahu conference; the $192 fee will cover room and board.

Checks, made payable to the U.S.-Japan Committee for Racial Justice, should be mailed to: Julia Estrella, 631 Hausten St. No. 2, Honolulu, HI 96826. For registration information, call Julia Estrella, 941-0317.