Rongelap Atoll
From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.
Rongelap Atoll is an island-atoll located in Micronesia. It is a municipality of the Marshall Islands. The Atoll consists of 61 islets with a combined area of approximately 3 square miles. Its lagoon covers 388 square miles.
In 1954, winds carrying radioactive fallout from the first hydrogen bomb test dropped inches of contaminated ash on the residents of Rongelap. They were relocated to Kwajalein for medical treatment within three days, though it was too late to help many. The islanders were allowed to return in Feburary of 1957, until a second evacuation was necessary in 1985. The islanders resettled on Mejatto Island on the Kwajalein Atoll. In September 1996, the United States Department of the Interior signed a 45-million dollar resettlement agreement with the islanders.
