
Remembering that dreadful day
One of the greatest tragedies in the history of the human race
happened in August, 61 years ago. August 6 has gone down in history as
one of the saddest and blackest days.
At 8.15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped
over Hiroshima, in Japan. Within seconds, most of Hiroshima was
destroyed, thousands were killed and others injured and maimed for life.
Three days later - August 9 - another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki,
south of Hiroshima. This was done by America to stop the war Japan had
started in South-east Asia, in December 1941. Five days later Japan
surrendered, and World War II was over on August 14, 1945.

Sixty one years on, there are still quite a few survivors of the bomb
blast and the fire that followed. Last year (2005), to mark the 60th
anniversary of the bombing, many newspapers and magazines published
pictures of survivors and those on the plane that dropped the bomb, who
are still living, and what they may have remembered of that dreadful
day. From these statements, we can form a picture of what it must have
been like, on August 6.
The bomb was dropped from the plane at a height of 9,600 metres. It
did not hit the ground. The bomb exploded 550 m above Hiroshima. After
dropping the bomb, the pilot of the plane did a 180 degree turn to get
away from the explosion as fast as possible. All that those in the plane
saw was, a very, very bright flash. Yugi Egusa, 18 years then, also saw
the flash at a distance of 6 km, and went blind.
Within seconds of the explosion, there was a ball of fire which
became a mushroom-like cloud covering the whole city. It rose to a
height of about eight miles and Staff Sergeant George Caron, the tail
gunner in the plane, could see the cloud when the plane was 560 miles
away.
Children in a school 1.9 km from ground zero, that is the Earth's
surface closest to the explosion, ran to the window to look, and were
burnt by the flash of the explosion.
The heat given out in the explosion was so great, that clay tiles on
roofs a third of a mile from the explosion melted. The melting point of
clay is 1300 degrees Celsius. Houses far from ground zero caught fire.
Pumpkins roasted on creepers, and potatoes underground were baked. These
were later used as food. Two men seeing a roasted pumpkin had plucked
and eaten it.
The blast destroyed even the largest buildings. Shells of some
buildings are still preserved as reminders of the destruction.
A large hospital, one km from ground zero toppled into the
river.Fires were started, partly by the heat released in the explosion,
setting alight inflammable (can easily catch fire) material and partly
by the blast damaging gas pipes and electric installations. Winds
blowing at a speed of 30-40 mph, fanned the fires, which lasted six
hours, and burnt an area of 19.2 square metres. Over 60,000 houses were
burnt. The central area of Hiroshima became an inferno (a huge fire out
of control) into which no fire-fighters could enter.
Men, women and children staggered through the fire. Many were
severely injured. Eyebrows were burnt off. Skin was torn off hands, or
was hanging from people's faces. Hiroko Komishi, still alive, then a
girl of 13 years, said she was so badly burnt her mother couldn't
recognize her. One man tried to help a neighbour whose skin came off
like a glove.
Sumo Tsubi, a 20-year-old engineering student, was on his way to the
university when the bomb was dropped less than a kilometre away. He ran,
his clothes burning and collapsed in the outskirts of the city. Now 80,
he still remembered seeing a man with a chest wound so deep that he
could see his (the man's) lungs expand and contract with every breath.
Even by evening, the asphalt on the streets was still too hot to walk
on. A large number sat or lay on pavements, dying. Survivors felt
terribly thirsty. Those who had the strength walked to the river and
drank the river water. Then, they started vomiting.
There was no organised help even by evening, and no one to take away
the corpses. There were a few voluntary helpers like Mr. Tamimoto. He
found that "to distinguish the living was not easy, for most of the
people lay still with their eyes open".
Another volunteer was Father Kliensorge. When he "penetrated the
bushes, he saw about 20 men and they were all in the same nightmarish
state, their faces were wholly burnt; their eye-sockets were hollow, the
fluid from their melted eyes had run down their cheeks" - the result of
having their faces upturned when the bomb exploded. Only three out of
the 45 hospitals in Hiroshima were left.
Sixty five doctors and 1,760 nurses were killed or too badly wounded
to work. The Red Cross Hospital, the largest in Hiroshima, was badly
damaged. Ceilings and plaster had fallen. Plaster, dust, blood and vomit
were everywhere. There were patients on the floor of the wards, in the
labs, in the corridors, on the stairs, in the front hall and in the
garden. The injured and the sick were dying by the hundreds.
More and more patients were coming in the day after and the following
day too. Doctors and even the survivors realized that something terrible
and unusual had happened. It was not ordinary burns that people were
dying of. Many without severe burns or injuries collapsed and died. It
was a mystery, then.
Now, the cause is known and it is well documented. The deaths were
caused by radiation. Those who came from outside to help within the
first three days were also exposed to radiation. Like many of the
survivors, they too later developed leukaemia.
This was the sad and frightening picture of Hiroshima, on the day of
the bombing.
Immediately after and for the next few years, the world hoped and
believed that this dreadful weapon will never be used again. But, soon
America and Russia began to build nuclear weapons. Now, seven countries,
including India and Pakistan, have nuclear devices, and North Korea,
Iran and Israel are said to have nuclear weapons.
Every year, on August 6 and 9, thousands gather in the Peace Parks in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and when bells toll at the exact time the bombs
were dropped, they bow their heads in silence. But the world seems to
have forgotten the destruction and the sorrow the bombs brought to
thousands of people on those two days. If they remembered, they will not
be making nuclear weapons.
Sumana Saparamadu. |