Atom bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Two bombs fell on Japan in 1945 and killed hundreds of thousands of people, and their effects are still visible. Koko Kondo, who was buried under the rubble with his mother and eight-month-old baby after the Hiroshima attack, has spent his entire life fighting for nuclear disarmament.

By the end of 1945, there were an estimated 140,000 bombings in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki. In the months and years that followed, another 100,000 people died from burns and radiation sickness. In the years that followed, many of the survivors suffered from leukemia, cancer, and other negative effects of radiation.

It is uncertain how many deaths of 103,000 people and other military deaths were due to radiation exposure caused by high temperatures and the explosion pressure of 1.5 kilotons in Hiroshima and 2.5 kilograms in Nagasaki. Estimated levels of radiation indicate that for most people exposed to bombs within a mile of Ground Zero, radiation was not enough to kill. Within 15 miles, radiation hazards were significantly reduced, and 24 Australian POWs 15 miles from Ground Zero in Hiroshima and Nagasaki survived, many of them reaching healthy age.

In contrast, during the US bombings of Japan's Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe cities between February 1945 and August 1945, the B-29s brought 100 pounds [100 kg] of explosive devices into urban areas in hundreds of attacks that resulted in high casualties. great down. First introduced, the atomic bomb used by the atomic bomb destroyed 13 square miles [13 sq km] in Hiroshima, with a death toll of 180,000. Three days later a second atom bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing 50,000 to 100,000 people.

On August 6, 1945, the US B-29 bomber struck the world's first atom bomb during World War II over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. An estimated 80,000 people died in the attack, and tens of thousands more died from radiation exposure. Three days later a second B-29 bomber struck down Nagasaki, killing at least 40,000 people.

A uranium bomb exploded in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, carrying a massive 15,000 tons of TNT. Seventy percent of buildings were destroyed and burned, causing an estimated 140,000 deaths by the end of 1945 and increasing the number of cancers and chronic diseases for survivors. Three days later, a large plutonium bomb exploded in Nagasaki, destroying an area of about 40 square miles [67 sq km].

The magnitude of the devastation and chaos, including the fact that much of the infrastructure in both cities had been cut off, and that the death toll from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings is unknown. The most powerful was the Hiroshima plutonium bomb, Fat Man, which weighed 10,000 pounds [10,000 kg] and was built to produce 22 kilotons of explosives. However, the formation of the second target Nagasaki, where the bomb was dropped to the ground as a result of the bombing, limited the destruction to 2.6 square miles.

Today, the devastation of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not only a reminder that human beings can be regenerated, but also that fears and misinformation can lead to false expectations. In the aftermath of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings, many believe that nuclear-armed cities will become nuclear deserts. The population of Hiroshima reached 383,000 during the previous war, but declined sharply after the atomic bombing, due to the orderly arrangement ordered by the Japanese government.

The nuclear age began on July 16, 1945, with the first nuclear explosion in the desert of New Mexico. In this video series described by the Arms Control Association, we describe the events that took place in the three weeks following the nuclear attacks in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To find out more about the political, environmental, and nuclear effects of nuclear war, the rise of the International Weapons Organization, and the work of Hibakusha (survivors) after the bombing, see the special issue of Arms Control Today from July / August 2020. It is available at ArmsControl.org / 75years.

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, and Nagasaki during World War II - the American bombing of two cities on August 6, 1945, and another in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 - marked the first use of nuclear weapons in warfare. Tens of thousands died in the first explosion, and many more fell victim to radiation poisoning.

No one knows the devastating effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings during World War II in Japan until I heard Encyclopaedia Britannica editor Michael Ray talk about the bombing of Japan, the largest atomic bomb in the world since World War I.

This infographic describes the first bombs, how they worked and how they were used. In the spring of 1945, the US government appointed a committee of scientists and military officials to determine the use of the atomic bomb. The committee said there was no guarantee that a bombing of Japanese bombs in an abandoned area would cause the Japanese leadership to give up.

It was very important to convince Japan that surrender was possible, but the United States had only two atomic bombs in July 1945, and some weapons were not ready for use for a few weeks. On the morning of August 9, when Japan failed to take action, the US dropped a second atom bomb on Fat Man, the city of Nagasaki. Later that day, President Harry Truman informed the Americans that U.S. troops using the new weapon would threaten future bombings without Japan's intervention, as stated in the Potsdam Declaration on June 26, 1945.

Hansell's successor, Major General Curtis LeMay, who took office in January 1945, carried out a similar bombing, but with disastrous results. After discussions with the Department of Defense on Operation Downfall's bomb-storage operations, Marshall suggested that Stimson be kept on the city list and avoid atomic bombings. To reverse the previous order, Nagasaki's targets were attacked before the bomb was ready.