For many, the U.S. nuclear testing of the late 1940s and '50s might seem like a distant memory — or something that has been forgotten altogether. But for the 13,000 residents of Ebeye Island in Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, the aftermath of missile testing is very real. Atomic Dust, a 2014 photo series by documentary photographer Vlad Sokhin shows the fallout on Ebeye, a tiny island that has been plagued with overcrowding, poverty, and outbreaks of disease.
In the 1940s, residents were moved to Ebeye Island, that's around half-way between Australia and Hawaii, from nearby Marshall Islands when the U.S. Army launched the missile-testing program "Operation Crossroads." In 1954, the military detonated a nuclear bomb on one of the northern Marshall Islands' Bikini Atoll, under the code name "Castle Bravo." It was the largest-ever U.S. nuclear test and made the island unliveable, forcing residents who had been moved ahead of the blast to stay on Ebeye.
As the nuclear tests continued in the Marshall Islands, Ebeye became more and more crowded, leading to outbreaks of various diseases, including cholera, measles, and polio.
Refinery29 has reached out to the U.S. Army for comment and will update this story when we get a response.
The United States has "expressed regret" about the accident, according to a statement on the website for the U.S. Embassy in Majuro.
"While international scientists did study the effects of that accident on the human population unintentionally affected, the United States never intended for Marshallese to be hurt by the tests," the statement reads. "Today, the United States is committed to a full and open collaboration with the Republic of the Marshall Islands in radiological monitoring, rehabilitation of affected atolls, and nuclear-related health-care assistance."
As The Washington Post notes, the U.S. Army still "operates a missile test range" on the neighbouring Marshall island, Kwajalein Atoll. The ongoing U.S. missile testing still affects the health of Ebeye residents today, according to Sokhin. The tests can lead to the flu, pink eye, and other ailments, an employee at an Ebeye hospital told the photographer.
Refinery29 talked to Sokhin about life on Ebeye and what he hopes people will take away from his photo series.
Click through to see what life is like for the residents of Ebeye.
Kaelyn Forde contributed reporting.
How did you first become aware of the situation in Ebeye?
"Since 2012, I have worked in the Pacific region. I've decided to focus on Oceania, because it's a very underrepresented and underreported part of the world. I've spent several years working and traveling there and always look for the new stories. Marshall Islands was on my radar for a while, because of climate change."
Caption: Teenagers trying to catch a wave, surfing with any available floating materials.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
"Once, I met a person who worked for one of the charities years ago. He went to Ebeye in the 1990s to report on the situation of children there. He told me many stories about the 'Slum of the Pacific,' how difficult access was that time, and how a part of his report was censored by the U.S. military. It all sounded very interesting to me and I decided to go there and see if I could work on a photo project."
Caption: Ebeye Island has a population of more than 13,000 people, many of whom were relocated from other atolls as a result of nuclear testing that the American military began to conduct post-WWII. Ebeye subsequently became overpopulated and is informally known as the "Slum of the Pacific." Its people suffer numerous diseases and the mortality rate is one of the highest in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
What were your first thoughts when you traveled there?
"The first thing that you see while getting to Kwajalein Atoll is a U.S. military base. The security measures are very tight, the military personnel will check you many times before they escort you to a ferry terminal.
"Once you get on a ferry for a 20-minute ride to Ebeye, the first thing you see is a small strip of land. You can literally walk around the island in 20 minutes and it's hard to believe that more than 13,000 people live on it."
Caption: Residents and visitors return to Kwajalein Island from Ebeye on the free ferry operated by the U.S. Army. Only a few people have permission to enter the military base. Most of the foreigners that work on Ebeye travel to Kwajalein to catch a flight from the international airport that is located there and used by both military and civil aviation.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
"Half of the population are children. They are everywhere, playing sport games, hanging around, jumping, swimming, screaming...some areas, like North Camp, really look like a slum — people huddle in small houses made of particleboard or other makeshift materials — many of them have sewage problems. But generally, Ebeye looks clean, as residents try to maintain their island in good condition, despite all of the housing problems and overpopulation."
Caption: Hiroshi, 13, plays along with his friends on the rusty remains of machines abandoned on the coast of the island.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
In 1969, the United States began a project to "decontaminate Bikini Atoll," BBC News reports. Residents of the island returned in the 1970s, but they were evacuated after dangerous radiation levels were found in their bodies.
Caption: Children play among the detritus of a rubbish dump. Children and many unemployed adults often go to the dump in search of any discarded items that they can use.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
In 1985, the United States vowed to decontaminate Bikini Atoll over the next 15 years, according to BBC News. The U.S. ended its nuclear experiments in 1958, but according to a U.N. report in 2012, the tests' effects have caused "near-irreversible environmental contamination," according to The Guardian.
Caption: Children playing the 'Cemetery' game on one of the Ebeye's sandy beaches.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
What kind of health problems do the people who live there have?
"From my conversations with local residents and medical workers, I've found that they very often have outbreaks of infectious diseases. In 1963, a polio epidemic hit the island; the incidence of infection reached 91.3 per 1000 and caused 11 deaths and 212 recorded cases of full or partial paralysis. In the 2000s, measles, polio, cholera, and tuberculosis have become major diseases. I've met a few people with leprosy."
Caption: George Junior (24), a health worker at the Ebeye public hospital; with his wife, Angela (23); and children, Angeline (2) and Brangie (2 months), in their house. George says that every time the U.S. military test their ballistic missiles and the rains fall, the population of Ebeye gets sick with diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, and the flu.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
Each March, the Marshall Islands observe Nuclear Victims' Remembrance Day to honour those lost in the 1950s missile testing.
Caption: Mido, 78, spent most of her life on Ebeye. Now, she lives in an abandoned house with her daughter and grandchildren. As immigrants, they do not own land on the island and therefore are not allowed to build.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
What impact does ongoing testing have on the people who live there?
"Missile tests that U.S. military still conducts at Kwajalein Atoll are affecting the local population. According to George Junior, a health worker at Ebeye's hospital, and a few other people I have spoke to, during missiles tests, and especially if rain falls after them, the entire population of Ebeye gets sick. People have diarrhoea, flu, and conjunctivitis. Such symptoms continue for 10 to 15 days. Then, people get better till the next testing time."
Caption: A boy stands on a rock in a rubbish dump and watches his friends play in the water. Although Ebeye's residents make a lot of efforts to keep their island clean, due the luck of regular collections, waste builds up at various dumps across the island.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
What obligation do you feel the U.S. has to the people there, in terms of cleaning up the damage they have caused and taking responsibility for their health problems?
"David Hanlon, in his book, Remaking Micronesia: Discourses Over Development in a Pacific Territory, 1944-1982, describes Ebeye as 'the most congested, unhealthful, and socially demoralised community in Micronesia.'" He adds that 'it is no accident that atmospheric nuclear testing took place in an area remote from the North-American continent and among people who were not white.'"
"People from Ebeye and other islands of R.M.I. are still being victims of the U.S. nuclear policy in the Pacific. In the past, they were relocated from their homes and got serious health issues. Nowadays, people still can't return to their home islands — some of them are still off-limits. It is true that some islands had a cleanup, but locals can't fish or grow food there, it is still not safe. Their daily ration is canned junk food imported from the States...my feeling is that despite all of the improvements the U.S. government made for these people, much more needs to be done. People need better housing, better access to health facilities, and a possibility to return to their native land, where it is safe to live, of course."
Caption: Children lying on mattresses placed on the floor of a room in an overcrowded house. Often, several families live in one home.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
In 2014, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Armbruster said that "words are insufficient to express the sadness" of the nuclear test's 60th anniversary that year, according to The Guardian. Ambruster noted that the U.S. is still working with the Marshall Islands to help islanders access health care.
Caption: Erina Paul, 55, near her house. Erina's family was relocated from Rongelap Atoll after Americans tested the "Castle Bravo" nuclear device on nearby Bikini Atoll. In 1963, Erina became paralysed when the polio epidemic hit the island. Professional observers blamed the outbreak of polio in part on the American administration's failure to immunise the population of Ebeye against the disease, despite the existence of an approved, available, and cost-efficient vaccine.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
What were some of the stories they told you about how the testing has affected them?
"I've met some families who have children with disabilities. Their kids are paralysed or born blind. The parents believe that this happened because of the nuclear tests that the U.S. government conducted in the Marshall Islands in the middle of the 20th century. I can't say that those tests have direct affection on children who were born a few generations after. My opinion is that the overpopulation and failure of American administration to immunise the fast-growing population of Ebeye are the real causes."
Caption: Patients in the waiting room of the renovated Leiroz Kit Lang Memorial Health Centre.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
What is your advice for young people who want to use photography to draw attention to social justice issues, as you have?
"My advice to young photographers is to work as much as you can. Work hard, make the results of your work visible, and you will have success as a photographer. Your work might help people whose stories you are telling through your lens."
Caption: Ebeye residents look toward the Kwajalein Atoll's outer islands. For many, they were once home. Of the atoll's 97 islands, 11 were rented to the U.S. military for use in the missile-defence program and are closed to the public. Residents of several other islands of the so-called Mid-Corridor group can get to their home island only during three six-week periods each year, at a time when there are no missile tests conducted.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
During the Second World War, Kwajalein was referred to as "Execution Island," since it served as a POW camp for the Japanese, The Washington Post reports. Today, Kwajalein Atoll is still used for U.S. missile tests.
Caption: Oved, 62, sitting on a grave in one of many Ebeye cemeteries. Because of extreme overcrowding, all local cemeteries are full and now serve as a place of games for children and drinking alcohol for adults. Deceased people are usually buried on outer islands, as there is no room left in the island's cemeteries.
Photo: Vlad Sokhin
The United States provides assistance, such as food aid to the Marshall Islands, The Washington Post explains. But since many of those food items are processed, including white rice and chicken, obesity is the leading cause of death in the Marshall Islands, the Post notes.
Caption: People outside their houses as dusk falls.
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