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| Tina Cordova's family lived in Talrosa, New Mexico |
On the morning of July 16, 1945, Demecio Peralta of the United States, as usual, grazed his cow in the garden next to his field, as part of his daily routine.
DeMassio lived with his wife and children in a small three-room house on the outskirts of New Mexico, and his village at that time had a population of only a thousand.
His wife, Francesquita Silva Perelta, was pregnant at the time and was expecting her tenth child.
But this morning the couple's normal life was changed by the sound of a huge explosion, which shook the earth and with the explosion came a cloud of 'more powerful than sunlight' glow and smoke. Were
Unaware of the fact that he had just witnessed such a catastrophic event, DeMassio arrived at his home, praying for the well-being of his children and wife, where he sheltered his wife and two eldest daughters in a corner, weeping. Seen
The couple's youngest daughter, Genoa Peralta Porcela, told BBC Brazil that "the house was shaken by the blast and the windows were shattered. Everyone was thinking that maybe the end of the world was near."
When DeMasio later went to a nearby ranch to inspect his cattle, he found that not only the land but all his cows were covered with white powder and "there was snow everywhere."
Shortly afterwards, the Peralta family and others in the region discovered the cause of the explosion and the origin of the ash falling from the sky. A few kilometers away, the US government conducted the first test, the first atomic bomb test in the world.
It was part of the Trinity Test Manhattan Project, a program to build an atomic bomb during World Invade II.
Although the site chosen for the bombing is considered the Jorda del Morto Desert, a remote area where many families lived in isolated fields and small rural communities.
This population, many of whom were of Native American or Hispanic descent, was never evacuated from the region, nor were they warned about the test. Unaware that they were exposed to radiation, the locals continued to lead normal lives in the settlements even after the test.
But circumstances have shown that this test had a profound effect on these populations. After more than 75 years, survivors and their offspring have felt the effects for decades.
"I am the only survivor out of ten (sisters and brothers)," Porcela lamented. Everyone else died of cancer.
Survivors in New Mexico have never been identified, unlike residents in the vicinity of subsequent nuclear tests who were compensated for poor health.
To this day, the families are looking forward to joining a government program that provides compensation to those affected.
"Away from populated areas"
A report on the Trinity Plan and its implementation, published in 2010 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a public health research agency affiliated with the National Department of Health, states that It was initially considered for testing at eight locations. There were three locations in New Mexico, two in California, one in Texas and one in Colorado.
Scientists were looking for an area with a parallel region and sunny climate, among many other features. One important criterion was that it was 'far from populated areas'.
Major General Leslie Groz, the military chief of the Manhattan Project, originally supported an area of California but eventually chose the Juranda del Morto Desert in New Mexico for the test.
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| Anastasio Cordova was four years old when the United States conducted a nuclear test |
Elections in the United States were announced in August 1944. By the beginning of 1945, more than 200 scientists, soldiers, technicians, doctors and construction teams had already settled on the site, secretly working to build the infrastructure needed for the test.
At 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945, a plutonium bomb was dropped on the top of a tower and detonated.
The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a U.S. military base. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a U.S. military base. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a U.S. military base.
'Warmer than the sun'
The blast was more powerful than expected and produced "ten thousand times more heat than the sun." The teams that watched the test described the feeling of warmth that "stayed like a huge fireball."
People there said they saw a "giant cloud of smoke surrounded by a blue glow" followed by an explosion with "shockwave pressure" which "resonated for more than five minutes".
The CDC says the nuclear explosion produced more than a dozen dazzling lights. The light was seen in New Mexico and parts of Arizona, Texas and Mexico.
The blast shattered windows in cities more than 150 kilometers away.
According to the report, out of the total six kilograms of plutonium in the center of the bomb, only 1.2 kilograms exploded while the rest was shattered into nuclear ash.
According to the document described above, "about 4.8 kg of plutonium remained undivided and dispersed into the atmosphere."
The cloud of smoke rose above 20 km and spread to three major parts. One east, another west and northwest, and a third northeast.
The cloud crossed the country's border, even being seen in New England in the northeast of the country.
Ashes falling from the sky
Although there were no residents in the area around the test site, about 15,000 people lived within a 25-kilometer radius and about half a million lived within a 250-kilometer radius.
Tina Cordova belongs to the seventh generation of a family from Talrosa, a small town about 75 kilometers from the Trinity Test site, which was home to about 1,500 people at the time.
Tina was born 14 years after the test, but she remembers her grandmother telling her that day.
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| The Trinity Test was the name of the first atomic bomb plot in the United States |
This white substance, which some locals thought was snow despite being hot, dyed the clothes and skin of people, animals, gardens, lakes, rivers and ponds and used its water when it rained. Used to collect for
"In 1945, there was no running water in the countryside of New Mexico," says Cordova. Most families had a pool.
"Everything was dirty."
Unaware of the danger they were facing, the locals continued to use contaminated water for drinking, cooking, bathing, cleaning the house, watering the gardens and watering the animals.
Poultry, cows and pigs were raised for meat, eggs and dairy products while they also hunted small wild animals and birds and also planted fruits and vegetables.
"And now everything was dirty," says Cordova. The soil and everything that grew on it, even the grass for the animals, was polluted.
The way of life was similar in other rural communities in the region, such as the village of Captain, just 100 kilometers from the test site, where the Genova Porcela family lived.
"My father grew corn, beans and potatoes," recalls Porcela. My mother had a garden, she planted vegetables. That's what we ate. The rainwater that flowed from the roof was carried through a pipe to the pool and we drank it.
Cordova says people in the region have been exposed to ashes for days, breathing in contaminated air, drinking contaminated water and eating.
The plan was secret
Instead of warning residents of the area of the dangers, the government, after the test, acted to suppress "any kind of news that could endanger the public and spread false information that the blast hit a remote location." The explosion was caused by a fire.
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| Dehmischio and Francescita lived near the site of the world's first atomic bomb test in New Mexico. |
The CDC report states that "due to the high level of confidentiality regarding the test, accurate information about what actually happened was not made public until three weeks after the Japanese visit." The second atomic bomb was not dropped.
The safety of the residents of the affected areas was not as high a priority as privacy.
The document states that "this was necessary to prevent the Japanese from being notified" and that public safety precautions should not be taken.
It was initially thought that radiation particles in the atmosphere would not cause much of a problem as a result of the test.
"Any idea of giving early warning to the residents of the area was rejected," he said. It will spread more.
However, the biggest concern was with the immediate risks "because thinking in the radiation protection community has not yet focused on the potential long-term effects."
'Health hazards'
Many residents reported burning animals after the blast. Some cows' skins were burned and some said their chickens died.
Kordova noted that the government also confiscated some domestic cattle for observation. "But they never informed the people and they never did anything to help or explain the dangers," she said.
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| Genoa Peralta Porcela is the only surviving member of a family of 10 siblings |
Decades after the test, the team's director began monitoring radiation levels in the area, and Louis Hampelman admitted that "some people were probably very responsible."
"But they haven't been able to prove it, and we can't," said Hampelman.
According to the CDC, the publicity (radiation) exposure reviews published to date from the Trinity Test are incomplete because they contained contaminated air, food and ingested food received through radiation infusions and Do not mention the effects of water.
"Because people living within a 30-kilometer radius were not evacuated, internal radiation could pose significant health risks," the document said.
More than one generation infected with cancer
Genova Porcela was 16 years old when her father, Demecio Peralta, died of cancer. "I got stomach cancer, eye cancer, and that cancer caused Hodgkin's lymphoma to increase in size," she recalls.
His mother, Francesquita, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and his siblings were diagnosed with cancer and other diseases.
"One of my sisters died of breast cancer at the age of 33," said Porcela. (Years later) her daughter contracted the same disease and died. '
Tina Kordova saw many of her family members fall ill and die of cancer after the bombing.
"I am the fourth generation in my family to be diagnosed with cancer since the Trinity Test," said Cordova.
"My two great-grandparents, who lived in Tel Aviv at the time of the test, died of stomach cancer," Kordova said. The two were diagnosed in 1955. It was a time when no one in our community had ever heard of cancer. "
"Both of my grandmothers had cancer, although they did not die from it," she says.
Her father, Anastasio Anthony Cordova, who was four years old at the time of the test, was diagnosed with prostate cancer and two types of oral cancer and died in 2013.
His mother, two aunts, a cousin and a sister also contracted the disease. "And my family wasn't as affected as the others, there were homes where the whole family was diagnosed with cancer," she says.
Cordova says that when she was diagnosed, her doctors asked if she had been exposed to radiation, whether she had worked in a laboratory with radioactive isotopes, or whether she had had several X-rays in her life.
"And my answer is no, but I grew up in a town 75 kilometers from the Trinity Test site."
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| Demecio Peralta |
Role in defense of homeland
When the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, some residents around Trinity linked it to an explosion they had witnessed less than a month earlier, but the government No explanation was given, nor was there any warning about the dangers of radiation.
"The government instilled in us a sense that we should be proud of the role we played in ending World invade II, the role we played in defending our country," Cordova said.
Even in later years, when many members of the local community were diagnosed with cancer, there was no doubt that it could have anything to do with nuclear testing.
"People didn't make the connection between health problems and tests," Cordova said.
Cordova says that as she got older, she began to realize that there was a connection between the past explosion and the large number of sick people.
But it was only in 2004 that after reading a letter from another area resident, Fred Tyler, to a local newspaper, he began demanding a response from the government.
In the letter, Tyler said that after many years away from the area, he returned to see many people sick and dying.
Cordova, who had just left her hometown and was living in Albuquerque, was contacted.
Together they formed the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of the case and trying to get the government to recognize the damage done to the local population.
For the past 17 years, Cordova has been collecting details of health problems from residents and their children who have witnessed the test.
Compensation law
In 1965, US forces erected a monument at the Trinity Test site, and ten years later the area was declared a national landmark.
The site is currently managed by the National Park Service and is open to the public twice a year, in the first week of April and the third week of October.
The United States has tested about 200 nuclear weapons between 1945 and 1962, according to the Justice Department.
In addition, thousands of people worked in the extraction and processing of uranium, which is "essential for the development of nuclear weapons in the nation."
The department says "after the cessation of these activities, lawsuits were filed against the US government for failing to warn of the dangers of radiation exposure."
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was passed in 1990, which provides for the payment of compensation to those who have contracted a serious illness due to exposure to radiation during testing or work in the uranium industry.
Since then, more than ,000 2 billion has been paid to more than 45,000 people, including uranium miners, government officials working on test sites and people from affected areas in states including Nevada, Utah and Arizona. Are
Although Trinity employees were compensated, citizens living in the vicinity of the test were not included in the law and were never compensated or identified or explained why they were expelled.
'Many died waiting'
Cordova asks, "If they knew that the (later) test in Nevada harmed people, how did they not know that the Trinity Test harmed here?"
Now, after years of efforts by state senators and members of Congress, Congress is sitting on two bills: one in the House and the other in the Senate, extending the scope of the RECA, set for July this year, to Colorado, Idaho, and It also proposes to include Trinity-affected areas, including affected residents and communities in Montana.
"If we (can't include them) before the RECA expires, we probably never will," Cordova lamented.
Nearly eight decades after the nuclear test, the survivors are old. "They waited so many years for help, but they never got it," Cordova said. Many died waiting. ”Cordova says many families spent everything on their medical care.
"People can no longer ignore it," he says. Now that they have become a thing of the past, if they can't do anything about it, they will share in this injustice."
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