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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, February 25, 2005

Survivors of infamous nuclear incidents gather

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Marshallese people still enduring the effects of atomic radiation dating to the bomb tests of the 1950s will gather next week with survivors of other nuclear calamities at conferences here and in the Marshall Islands.

Dr. Lyudmyla Porokhnyak, survivor of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and Maza Attari, who witnessed the atomic bomb testing at Bikini Atoll, spoke at the Hawai'i Capitol yesterday.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Among those attending both conferences will be Dr. Lyudmyla Porokhnyak, a Ukrainian physician who lived downwind of the disaster 19 years ago at the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Speaking through an interpreter yesterday at an official announcement of the conferences, Porokhnyak said the effects of the Chernobyl meltdown continue to mount, with the contamination of regional rivers and groundwater supplies and congenital defects still appearing in newborns.

"It's very important for us to gather this way to share our experiences and draw strength from each other," she said.

A contingent from Hawai'i — including native Marshallese Maza Attari and Native Hawaiian activist Puanani Rogers of Kaua'i — were scheduled to leave early today for Majuro in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, where a conference will convene tomorrow through Wednesday.

The Hawai'i conference is set for Wednesday through March 6 in Wai'anae and will encompass perspectives of Native Hawaiian groups and other organizations locally that oppose nuclear weapons and power plants.

The Majuro meeting was timed to mark Tuesday's 51st anniversary of the "Bravo" bomb blast at Bikini in the Marshall Islands.

Attari said he was 7 years old at the time and still suffers from thyroid dysfunction and other health problems. Most of Hawai'i's Marshallese — who according to a 2003 census number around 3,000 — have some kind of ailment that relates to either the direct effects of radiation exposure or congenital problems inherited from a parent exposed to the blast, he said.

Kailua resident and military veteran Charles Clark, who entered Nagasaki 45 days after the atomic blast destroyed that city in 1945, also recounted his own litany of cancers and other illnesses, including disorders passed on to the two succeeding generations in his family. Exposure to radiation inflicts its damage after a latency period, he said, but the damage is inevitable.

"It's a question of time, and time is not on our side," Clark said.

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.

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Nuclear Conferences

Conferences on nuclear testing will be held in the Marshall Islands starting tomorrow, and Wednesday through March 6 at Camp Pu'u Kahea in Wai'anae.

The deadline is tomorrow to register for the O'ahu conference. The $192 fee covers room and board. Send checks payable to the U.S.-Japan Committee for Racial Justice to: Julia Estrella, 631 Hausten St., No. 2, Honolulu, HI 96826. Information: 497-3016.