Fleeing Thermonuclear Bombs and King Tides

Threatened by rising sea levels, Bikini Islanders request US refuge

More than 1,000 Bikini islanders have asked the United States to relocate them as rising sea levels threaten their homes.

The US government relocated the residents from Bikini Atoll to a nearby island named Kili in the Marshall Islands chain in the 1940s due to atomic bomb tests.

The US conducted at least 23 nuclear tests, including the massive hydrogen bomb, Bravo, the largest weapon detonated at the time, . Bravo (yield 15 Mt), an experimental thermonuclear device surface event, was detonated on Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954 as part of the Operation Castle. Source: U.S. Department of Energy (public domain).

In December 1945, President Harry S. Truman issued a directive to Army and Navy officials for joint testing of nuclear weapons “to determine the effect of atomic bombs on American warships.” Bikini was chosen for nuclear testing because of its location away from regular air and sea routes.

Their new home, however, is now threatened by the climate change dividends—rising sea levels, giant tides and ferocious storms.

Widespread flooding across the Marshall Islands last year caused extensive damage, leaving hundreds of residents homeless.

Bikini Atoll is one of the 29 atolls and five islands that comprise the Marshall Islands. The atolls are scattered over 925,000 square kilometers in the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator. The geographic area is referred to as Micronesia.

The plight of Bikini Islanders since their first forced relocation is posted at https://www.bikiniatoll.com/history.html