Hiroshima, through the eyes of survivors

 

                                            Atomic Bomb

                                                  "Little Boy"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Introduction:

• Atomic Bomb, "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 at 8:15 am
• Killed aprox. 140,000 people in Hiroshima with the population being at 255,000 at the time
• Bombing reached about a mile radius and destroyed over 90% of the buildings
• Bomb was a uranium gun type
• Significantly smaller than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki which was a plutoniam implosion type bomb and killed about 80,000 people
• Six days after the Nagasaki bombing Japan surrendered ending WWII
   

 

Survivors Stories:

• many of the survivors saw a bright light and recalled many people being burnt

Dr. Ryuso Tanaka recaps what he saw after the bomb hit: "I looked for my friends around the pool.They were beneath a big tree lying down on the ground. Their skin was burnt. However the damage was not severe. They were still alive. Our dormitory was severely damaged so I carried them to the Judo practice building. I put some Judo clothes into water and then covered their bodies with the wet outfits. It was now about 30 minutes after the explosion. Many wounded people came into the Judo practice building to ask for help. There skin was melted."

• 
  (a boy was exposed to thermal radiation about 1.5 miles from the hypocenter)
  Another survivor, Michiko Yamaoka tells what she saw after the explosion: "I wondered why my shirt had been burnt and hanging around my arms, I soon realized they were pieces of my skin. It was hell."

 

Why did we get bombed?

• many of the survivors have a couple of explanations of why they got bombed: The first one is because the US wanted to end the war and that was a quick way to do so; some believe the US bombed them in retaliation of the Pearl Harbor bombing; and some believe the US scientist who built the atomic bombs wanted to see if they would work.

 

Long Term effects of the Atomic Bomb:

• Hair Loss
• Severe Keloids (scarring)
  Cancer
  Tumors
  Mutation in blood cells
  Aging process
  radiation effects

 

Links to pictures and more information:

ttp://www.hiroshima-remembered.com/photos/effects/index.html

 

ttp://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•