“In 1954, my mother was about 10 years old. She remembers hearing the blast of the ‘Bravo’ test. And about little over 10 years ago, she passed away from stomach cancer, which is a known cancer caused by radiation exposure,” Rhea Moss-Christian, former Chair of the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission, told GDToday in an exclusive interview.
“Nearly every Marshallese you speak to has a cancer story in the family,” she furthered, “People will continue to experience cancers and other radiation illnesses, because radiation stays in the environment.”
From 1946 to 1958, the US conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, leaving the locals ill and uncompensated. According to Moss-Christian, the US agreed to offer 150 million USD through the Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal, far less than the estimated compensation of 3.5 billion to 4 billion USD.
As the daughter of a late witness of the US “Castle Bravo” explosion and a former official dedicated to resolve US nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands, in this video, Moss-Christian elaborated on the consequences of US nuclear tests and the country’s pursuit of justice in the past decades.
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Reporter | Lydia Liu
Video editor | Zoey
Poster designer | Mia
Editor | Wing, Keane, Steven, Jerry
Wu Shuhan (intern) contributed to the report.
