{"id":116202,"date":"2018-08-06T12:10:47","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=116202"},"modified":"2018-08-13T10:02:44","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T09:02:44","slug":"hiroshima-and-nagasaki-7-things-you-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/08\/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-7-things-you-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 7 Things You Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week (6-9 Aug 2018) marks 73 years since two atomic bombs were dropped over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and maimed, and the effects are still being felt today. But while the mushroom clouds became iconic symbols of mass destruction, and the paper cranes a symbol of hope for a nuclear-free world, there are many things you may not know \u2013 or may have forgotten \u2013 that are really important if we\u2019re going to make sure this never happens again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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#1 More than 210,000 people were killed<\/strong><\/p>\n

By the end of 1945, the bombing had killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki. In the years that followed, many of the survivors would face leukemia, cancer, or other terrible side effects from the radiation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach person had a name. Each person was loved by someone. Let us ensure that their deaths were not in vain.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

— Setsuko Thurlow, survivor of the August 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima
\nNobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, December 2017<\/p>\n

#2 The bombs were detonated in the air<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bombs don\u2019t have to hit the ground in order to detonate. For nuclear weapons, detonating them in the air causes the blast to have a larger geographical impact. Both \u201cLittle Boy\u201d (the uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima) and \u201cFat Man\u201d (the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki) were detonated in the air. You can find out more about what impact a detonation on the air or on the ground would have on your city through the Outrider Foundation\u2019s powerful (but terrifying) interactive tool<\/a>:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/outrider.org\/nuclear-weapons\/interactive\/bomb-blast\/<\/a><\/p>\n

#3 First responders couldn\u2019t help back then, and they wouldn\u2019t be able to help now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a nuclear weapon were to be detonated over a city today, first responders \u2013 hospitals, firemen, aid organisations \u2013 would simply be unable to help. This powerful video by the Red Cross explains why:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ICRC\/videos\/10155538730322263\/<\/p>\n

Tthe reason we know this is that the extent of the damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 made it nearly impossible to provide aid. In Hiroshima, 70% of all buildings were razed and burned, 42 out of 45 hospitals were rendered non-functional and 90% of physicians and nurses in were killed or injured. In Nagasaki, ground temperatures reached 4,000\u00b0C and radioactive rain poured down. As a result, most victims died without any care to ease their suffering. Some of those who did enter the cities after the bombings to provide assistance later died from the radiation.<\/p>\n

#4 The effects last to this day<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It takes around 10 seconds for the fireball from a nuclear explosion to reach its maximum size, but the effects last for decades and span across generations. Five to six years after the bombings, incidence of leukaemia increased noticeably among survivors. After about a decade, survivors began suffering from thyroid, breast, lung and other cancers at higher than normal rates. Pregnant women exposed to the bombings experienced higher rates of miscarriage and deaths among their infants; their children were more likely to have intellectual disabilities, impaired growth and an increased risk of developing cancer. And for all survivors, cancers related to radiation exposure still continues to increase throughout their lifespan, even to this day, seven decades later.<\/p>\n

#5 The Paper Cranes are symbols of peace and action<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Paper cranes are a traditional Japanese symbol for good health, but they have also come to symbolize the Hibakusha \u2013 the survivors of the bombings. From the iconic story of Sadako\u2019s 1000 paper cranes<\/a> to the tireless efforts by Hibakusha to rid the world of nuclear weapons to this very day, their stories are stories of hope and determination that must not be lost. Survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are living witnesses to the horror of nuclear war and when we talk about nuclear weapons, we must talk about the real unacceptable effects they can have on human beings. \u00a0The paper cranes are not just a\u00a0symbol of peace, but also a call to action. They are a reminder that we must keep pushing to see the #endofnukes.<\/p>\n

To learn more, you can find a vast number of Hibakusha testimonies online, but good starting places are\u00a0Hibakusha Storie<\/a>s\u00a0and the 1945 project, as well as these resources by\u00a0the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum<\/a> and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

#6 There is a way to make sure it never happens again: the Nuclear Ban Treaty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On July 7th, 2017, the UN adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons<\/a>. This historic treaty bans nuclear weapons and all activities related to them. One it enters into force, this legally binding treaty will prohibit nations from:<\/p>\n