Hiroshima Marks 70 Years Since Atomic Bomb

Hiroshima marks 70 Years Since Atomic Bombing

Hiroshima Day is being observed in many parts of the world with special vigils and peace marches. It is held to commemorate the atomic bombing done by United States of America on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6th and 9th August 1945. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed around 80,000 people. Further, tens of thousands more, later died of radiation exposure. Locals however are still suffering even after 70 years of the disaster.

Visitors observe a minute of silence for the victims of the atomic bombing, at 8:15 a.m., the time at which the bomb exploded over the city. Dignitaries joined more than 40,000 people at a ceremony on Thursday at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park, as Japan marked the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. (Aug. 6) AP

Sunao Tsuboi was on his way to class at Hiroshima Technical School on Aug. 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb — the world’s first — detonated.

Tsuboi remembers a blinding light, followed by a shock wave that hurled him 30 feet and knocked him unconscious. When he awoke, he was covered in burns and could barely walk. All around him was death, destruction and unimaginable horror.

“Bodies everywhere — no arms, no legs, everyone just dead.” Sunao Tsuboi, Hiroshima survivor

“Houses gone. Bodies everywhere — no arms, no legs, everyone just dead. You look and you ask, ‘Were these really human beings?’ “ Tsuboi, 91, recalled in a recent interview.

The U.S. dropped the bombs to avoid what would have been a bloody ground assault on the Japanese mainland, following the fierce battle for Japan’s southernmost Okinawan islands, which took 12,520 American lives and an estimated 200,000 Japanese, about half civilians. How American culture went nuclear — without us realizing it

An estimated 140,000 people died from the Hiroshima bombing, and even more were killed three days later in the attack on Nagasaki, on Aug. 9.

Of the 1 million-plus Japanese classified as hibakusha in the postwar years, only about 183,000 are still alive. Their average age is now 80 — only a few years below Japan’s average life expectancy. Many are still fighting illnesses and injuries traced to the bombings seven decades ago.

“The survivors are getting old and are disappearing, and there are fewer people to tell their stories. So we need to train people to pass along these stories and knowledge so that it doesn’t disappear,” said Ayami Shibata, a Hiroshima city official. Bonsai tree, nearly 400 years old, survived Hiroshima and is still flourishing in D.C.

Time has not eased the burden. Decades after the bombings, survivors can be diagnosed with cancer and others illnesses linked to radiation.

“When the radiation began to appear, we were all shocked. We thought it was over. But 10 years, 20 years later, people were still dying and still suffering,” said Keiko Ogura, 78, a Hiroshima survivor who works as an interpreter and volunteer at the Peace Memorial Museum.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/08/05/japan-hiroshima-anniversary/31192745/