This day, 79 years ago, the ‘Enola Gay’, a Boeing B-29 bomber, dropped ‘Little Boy,’ a 9,700-pound uranium gun-type bomb, over the city of Hiroshima at 8:15 am. Less than a minute later, a huge explosion lit the morning sky. The city was reduced to rubbles, thousands died and lakhs would continue to suffer in the coming years. Three days later, on 9th August 1945, a similar disaster unfolded in Nagasaki.
The United States’ Manhattan project was successful and the world would never be the same again. The most destructive weapon brought an end to the Second World War as Japan surrendered and radically transformed the world post it.
The Manhattan project began as a race to acquire the bomb before Nazi Germany did and America’s own desire to further establish its supremacy. Subsequently the other superpower, USSR also became a nuclear power state followed by UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.
English translation of his post- “79 years ago today, tens of thousands of precious lives were lost to the atomic bomb. The city was reduced to ashes, and people’s dreams and bright futures were mercilessly taken away. Those who managed to survive were forced to endure days of hardship that are difficult to describe. We would like to express our deepest condolences to the souls of those who fell victim to the atomic bomb.”
Impact on Hiroshima –
In Hiroshima, the bomb killed approximately 70,000-90,000 people instantly, with thousands more succumbing to injuries and radiation exposure. The city’s infrastructure too was decimated. Some argue that the long-term impacts are felt even today as hibakusha (as the survivors are popularly known) faced hazardous health and psychological traumas. As per ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), five to six years after the bombings, the incidence of leukemia increased and after about a decade, cases of thyroid, breast, lung and other cancers was higher than average. Pregnant women exposed to the bombings experienced higher rates of miscarriage and deaths among their infants, who were likely to have intellectual disabilities, impaired growth and an increased risk of cancer. Radiation exposure still continues to increase their chances of cancer, even seven decades later. Many of them even suffer from public discrimination and anxiety and somatization symptoms.
Japanese government recognizes more than 6 lakh hibakushas of which close to 1 lakh are still alive, mostly in Japan (as on 2023). However, exact numbers related to the incident are not clear due to imprecise record-keeping at that time, the chaos caused by the attack, uncertainty in methodology, etc.
Hiroshima day commemorations –
Hiroshima day is marked every year on August 6 to pay homage to the thousands of innocent lives lost and appeal for nuclear disarmament. Various programmes like peace marches, awareness campaigns, seminars, and memorial services, take place with the participation of people worldwide as they make a shared commitment to the promotion of global peace. Various conversations with hibakusha take place as they share their stories of survival and strength, emphasising the importance of remembering history in order to avoid repetition.
Many people, including families of the deceased, visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, where a solemn ceremony takes place for the victims and to pray for world peace. The ceremony is held in the morning followed by a one-minute silence at 8:15 AM, the time of the bomb’s explosion. Doves are released as a call for peace. In the evening, a Lantern ceremony takes place with peace messages floating on the waters of the Motoyasu River. Approximately, 50,000 people attended the ceremony this year including the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who stated, “It is our country’s mission as the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war to steadily continue our efforts toward realizing a world without nuclear weapons.”
Today’s day is a crucial reminder of the sheer brutality and devastating capabilities of nuclear weapons and must deepen our resolve for a nuclear weapon-free world. As the UN Secretary General stated in a post on his X (formerly, twitter) account, “We must not forget the lessons of 6 August 1945.”
