Hiroshima atom bomb, let it be the last one on earth

by Jim RAMANAYAKE

The 69th anniversary of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, the eighth largest seaport city of Japan took place on August 6 with a memorial service to the 236,062 people who had perished, at the Peace Cenotaph Pagoda in the presence of the Mayor of the city and a large number of relatives of the dead.

It was the first time in the history that a uranium atom bomb weighing 4,500 kg: was dropped to annihilate human beings. Death came within seconds to instantly kill 80,000 people suffering from the agony of radiation estimated at 300,000 centigrade at the hypocentre.

It had a devastating effect on human beings, their bodies getting torn off, internal organs blown to smithereens, flesh hanging on their bodies with no eyes, noses or mouths.

What a tragedy for the annihilation of human beings on the earth, what unbearable suffering they underwent for no fault of theirs. USA dropped the second bomb weighing 4.5 Tons.

A plutonium on the Nagasaki city instantly killing another 70,000 human beings on August 9. Was this necessary was a questionable topic at that time.

The World War 11 was started by the German Chancellor Herr Hitler in 1939. Italy under General Benito Mussolini joined forces with the Nazis for capturing European States, but had a severe setback when they attacked USSR under the command of Genralissmo Joseph Stalin. Russia joined hands with USA and UK to form the Allied Forces. Japanese war lords pushed Japan into the war against the allied forces. With the blessings of the Emperor Hirohito who was considered as a demigod in Japan, Japanese troops started capturing the Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea and China. The Japanese General Tojo led the Japanese army that inflicted heavy damage on the US forces on a surprise attack on the Pearl Harbour, destroying many warships and planes. Japanese forces bombed the Trincomalee and the Colombo harbours used by the allied forces but their attacks were repelled by the Royal Air force Planes.

Lord Mountbatten was the Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces and had his operational headquarters in Kandy. Sri Lanka was spared of occupation by Japanese troops due to the presence of strong American,

British, Indian and Sri Lankan forces here. In the second world war era there were German Scientists doing research on making an atomic mass destruction device. The great German scientist Albert Einstein warned the then American President Roosevelt of the dangers to the world if Hitler laid his hands on this device.

Therefore in 1942, the USA set up the Manhattan Project on nuclear research assisted ably by the famous scientist and nobel prize winner. J. Robert Oppenheimer, Over 100 laboratories were engaged in this research project in the USA and they sought the advice of many world renowned scientists and ultimately in 1945 USA made the first atom bomb and tested it in an isolate desert in Mexico. The test proved that America became the first nation to discover a mass destruction weapon. The bomb had a devastating effect on the land and atmosphere.

Thereafter the American Air force dropped the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The then American President, Harry Truman, issued a warning to Japan, that unless they surrendered to the Allied forces, the whole of Japan would be destroyed by continued attacks by atomic bombs.

At that time fortunately for Japan there were two atomic research scientists working at the Physical and Chemical Research Institute, Dr. R. Takemi and Prof Yoshio Nishima, who knew about the danger of atomic radiation on human beings and they advised Emperor Hirohito to surrender immediately.

On August 12th, Japan surrendered, thereby saving the country and its people of total annihilation.

They accepted the Potadam Declaration. The American General Mc Arthur was appointed as the Commander in Chief of the Allied forces in Japan. The American forces were based in Japan and the country started the postwar recovery program.

The Japanese people had to undergo a great deal of hardship. The psychological trauma of defeat and the thousands of innocent people dead by the deadly atomic attacks made the Japanese people more determined to recover from the ashes and within a few years they were able to become a formidable economic power in the world.

Japan which was producing cheap fast selling goods began to improve their quality and productivity process and began making high quality superior products by innovating the Western systems.

They captured the world markets with sophisticated products and became an example to Asian countries. At the post war post-mortem conference held in San Francisco, America, the Allied Forces wanted Japan to pay compensation for the war crimes and damages, which it accepted would have become a heavy burden on the country at that time.

Buddha

However, the then Sri Lankan Finance Minister J.R. Jayewardene, who represented the country pleaded in mitigating terms quoting the preachings of the Buddha and he very forcefully convinced the world leaders and they decided not to get compensation from Japan.A few years later a Commonwealth of Nations Conference was held in Colombo and they decided to accept a proposal to establish the Colombo Plan for providing assistance to the wartime damage economies of the Asian and Pacific countries.

Australia and Britain supported the move and in 1954 the Colombo Plan was established with the Secretariat in Colombo. Although Japan was not a British Commonwealth country it decided to join this to provide technical training to scholars from the region and provide project assistance for the development of these countries. The Colombo Plan was similar to the Marshal Plans set up by America to assist the European economies to recover from the devastation of World War 11.