New Delhi: Hiroshima Day, observed onAugust 6th each year, marks the anniversary of a devastating event during World War II when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This tragic bombing resulted in massive destruction, killing tens of thousands of people instantly and causing long-term suffering for many more due to injuries and radiation.
Hiroshima Day is a time to remember those who lost their lives and to reflect on the terrible impact of nuclear warfare. Through education, advocacy, and collective action, we can work towards a future where the horrors of Hiroshima are never repeated.
Purpose of the day:
This day aims to educate people about the immense harm caused by nuclear weapons. It also serves as a tribute to the lives lost and the survivors who endured immense suffering.
Key Activities on 6th August, 2024:
Key events on Hiroshima Day 2024 include the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima, peace vigils, commemorative events, educational programs, exhibitions, and campaigns promoting nuclear disarmament and peacebuilding.
Significance of Hiroshima Day:
Hiroshima Day is an important political, moral, and historical occasion. It acts as a platform for advocating peace and disarmament as well as a day of remembrance for the victims.
Honoring and Lamenting:
On Hiroshima Day, people around the world pause to remember the lives lost and the suffering endured by the hibakusha. Events and ceremonies, such as the Peace Memorial Ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, take place in Hiroshima and other cities. To represent peace and hope, participants offer prayers, hold silent moments, and release paper lanterns.
Advocacy for Nuclear Disarmament:
Another advocacy day is Hiroshima Day. It draws attention to how urgently nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament are needed. On this occasion, groups, activists, and decision-makers advocate for international treaties and agreements that lessen the threat posed by nuclear weapons and call for their abolition.
Hiroshima Day's Effects: Increasing Awareness:
Raising Awareness: Hiroshima Day serves to bring attention to the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons and the value of world peace. It reaches a large audience and stimulates critical thinking about nuclear issues through media coverage, public events, and educational initiatives.
Encouragement of Disarmament and Peace:
The worldwide commitment to peace and disarmament is strengthened by this day. It brings together diverse groups, from grassroots activists to world leaders, in a united call for the elimination of nuclear weapons. This collective effort helps to maintain momentum for disarmament initiatives and treaties.
Honouring the Victims:
Hiroshima Day is primarily a memorial to the bombing victims. It guarantees that their memories will be kept for future generations by acknowledging their suffering and resiliency. This memorial service promotes a feeling of humanity among all people and a dedication to averting similar tragedies in the future.
The Bombing of Hiroshima and Impact:
On the morning of August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb, code-named 'Little Boy', over Hiroshima. One second after the bomb struck on the city of Hiroshima, a huge fireball 280m in diameter erupted with a core temperature of more than 1,000,000 degrees Celsius. Heat rays from the explosion raised surface temperatures of everything in their path to more than 3,000 degrees Celsius – more than twice the melting point of iron.
This sudden and extreme rise in temperature rapidly expanded the air around it, generating a blast that travelled faster than the speed of sound. Then, a drop in air pressure in the space behind the blast caused a backdraft powerful enough to burst the eyeballs and internal organs of anyone in its path.
The bomb exploded with an unprecedented force, the estimated death toll from the initial blast, fires, and radiation exposure in the months and years that followed was approximately 140,000 people by the end of 1945.
Almost everyone within one kilometre of the hypocenter was killed instantly. Those further out were pelted with bits of the city’s buildings, and badly burnt by the extreme heat, giving rise to the characteristic keloid scars – large overgrown tissue produced when the body creates too much collagen. The scar becomes larger than the initial wound.
Most of the radiation generated by the blast took the form of gamma rays, but 10 per cent was made up of neutron waves. Both are types of ionising radiation that are capable of causing alterations to DNA, though neutrons are much more dangerous. Around 10 per cent of Little Boy’s 64kg of uranium was eaten up by the initial fission reaction, leaving the remaining 90 per cent of the radioactive material to be strewn all over the city by the blast.
However, just one month later, red canna flowers began to sprout less than 1km from the hypocentre. The impact on Hiroshima’s infrastructure, economy, and population was profound and enduring. Many of the survivors suffered the symptoms of radiation sickness, which included vomiting, fever, fatigue, bleeding from the gums, thinning hair, diarrhoea, malnutrition and in the worst cases, death.
Long-term effects:
It takes around 10 seconds for the fireball from a nuclear explosion to reach its maximum size, but the effects last for decades and span across generations. Two days after the bombing, Harold Jacobsen, the Manhattan Project physician, stated that nothing would grow in Hiroshima for 70 years.
Five to six years after the bombings, the incidence of leukaemia increased noticeably among survivors. After about a decade, survivors began suffering from thyroid, leukaemia, breast, lung and other cancers at higher than normal rates. And for all survivors, cancers related to radiation exposure still continue to increase throughout their lifespan. Pregnant women exposed to the bombings experienced higher rates of miscarriage and deaths among their infants; their children were more likely to have intellectual disabilities, impaired growth and an increased risk of developing cancer.
Why did the US attack Hiroshima?
During the Second World War Japan was against the United States America and its allies including Britain and the Soviet Union. The allies were winning the war and Japan was pushed back from several locations. During the fighting, several soldiers died every day and Japan had been at war for so many years.
Later, Japan and China teamed up and attacked America. Japanese troops were treated very badly by Japanese soldiers. The then President of the US Harry S Truman wanted to surrender Japanese soldiers as quickly as possible and save lives. He permitted the nuclear bombing with the view that the Japanese would surrender after the destruction. The United States wanted to avoid the invasion of Japan through the land.
Also, some historians stated that the US also wanted to avoid Japan being occupied by the Soviet Union. So, America dropped a nuclear bomb in Hiroshima, Japan.
Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons:
A number of multilateral treaties have since been established with the aim of preventing nuclear proliferation and testing, while promoting progress in nuclear disarmament. These include the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests In The Atmosphere, In Outer Space And Under Water, also known as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was signed in 1996 but has yet to enter into force, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted by the Conference (by a vote of 122 States in favour, with one vote against and one abstention) at the United Nations on 7 July 2017, and opened for signature on 20 September 2017. Following the deposit with the Secretary-General of the 50th instrument of ratification or accession of the Treaty on 24 October 2020, it entered into force on 22 January 2021 in accordance with its article 15 (1).
