The same leaders which had pushed for increased control, rang up huge bills in travel expenses, buying real estate, aircraft, and boats.

[20] Then with funds depleted, the power and deliveries to Kili were stopped, and salaries were not paid, this led to declaration of emergency, and the Marshallese government had to step in to try to help.

This data was then compared with past radiological testing results collected by HYSPLIT to predict total nuclear fallout deposition of caesium-137 on island soil.

The United States government established several trust funds which as of 2013[update] covered medical treatment and other costs and paid about $550 annually to each individual.

The islanders cultivated native foods including coconut, pandanus, papaya, banana, arrowroot, taro, limes, breadfruit, and pumpkin.

[29] After the completion of nuclear tests, the islands of Bikini and Enyu were replanted with coconut trees in a square grid pattern, each 30 ft (9.1 m) apart.

[22] The radioactive contamination has prevented humans from fishing these grounds, and for that reason, there is an abundance of marine wildlife in the waters around the atoll, much larger than in other parts of the ocean.

[29] During WWII, the atoll had been occupied by Japanese troops, and American naval ships, ground artillery, and B-24 Liberator bombers attacked the island, killing many of the 8,000 soldiers.

[38] He helped the U.S. Department of Energy with soil monitoring, testing cleanup methods, mapping the wrecks in the lagoon, and accompanying visitors on dives.

[41] U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist Charles F. Streck, Jr., found bits of charcoal, fish bones, shells and other artifacts under 3 feet (0.91 meters) of sand.

Three vessels were sent to search for the captain, and when the Hawaiian brig Waverly discovered evidence of his death, the crew killed 30 Marshallese hostages in retaliation.

[19][better source needed] Bikini was captured along with the rest of the Marshall Islands by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1914 during World War I and mandated to the Empire of Japan by the League of Nations in 1920.

For the U.S., the battle represented both the next step in its island-hopping march to Japan and a significant moral victory, as it was the first time the Americans had penetrated the "outer ring" of the Japanese Pacific sphere.

Shortly after World War II ended, President Harry S. Truman directed Army and Navy officials to secure a site for testing nuclear weapons on American warships.

In February 1946, Navy Commodore Ben H. Wyatt, the military governor of the Marshall Islands, asked the 167 Micronesian inhabitants of the atoll to voluntarily and temporarily relocate so the United States government could begin testing atomic bombs for "the good of mankind and to end all world wars."

After "confused and sorrowful deliberation" among the Bikinians, their leader, King Juda, agreed to the U.S. relocation request, announcing MEN OTEMJEJ REJ ILO BEIN ANIJ, which translates as "Everything is in God's hands.

[52] No one lived on Rongerik because it had an inadequate water and food supply and due to deep-rooted traditional beliefs that the island was haunted by the Demon Girls of Ujae.

[51] The extremely small, 200 acres (81 ha) (.36 square miles (0.93 km2)) island was uninhabited and wasn't ruled by a paramount iroij, or king due to its size.

[59] Living on Kili Island effectively destroyed their culture that had been based on fishing and island-hopping canoe voyages to various islets around Bikini Atoll.

In June 1968, based on scientific advice that the radiation levels were sufficiently reduced, President Lyndon B. Johnson promised the 540 Bikini Atoll family members living on Kili and other islands that they would be able to return to their home.

The Atomic Energy Commission cleared radioactive debris from the island, and the U.S. Trust Territory was in charge of rebuilding structures and replanting crops on the atoll.

[61] In June, the Department of Energy stated that "All living patterns involving Bikini Island exceed Federal [radiation] guidelines for thirty-year population doses."

Toward the end of the eighth grade, students must pass a standardized test to gain admission to attend public high school in Jaluit or Majuro.

The mayor of the council that is responsible for the Bikini people, Anderson Jibas, used the fund's assets to buy a plane, construction equipment and two cargo ships.

[74] The depletion of the bikini islander's trust fund made news across the Pacific region, including New Zealand, and in major US newspapers such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Equivalent to 7,000 times the force of the Hiroshima bomb, the tests had major consequences on the geology and natural environment of Bikini Atoll and on the health of those who were exposed to radiation.

[87] Because the lagoon has remained undisturbed for so long, it contains a larger amount of sea life than usual, including sharks, which increases divers' interest in the area.

Terry Hamilton, scientific director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Marshall Islands Dose Assessment and Radioecology Program, reported that "Conditions have really changed on Bikini.

The population is growing at a four-percent growth rate, so increasing numbers are taking advantage of terms in the Marshall Islands' Compact of Free Association that allow them to live in and work in the United States.

[14] Wearing a bikini in the Marshall Islands is mainly limited to restricted-access beaches and pools like those at private resorts or on United States government facilities on Kwajalein Atoll within the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site.