Tokio. Japanese authorities and residents of Nagasaki paid tribute yesterday to the victims of the atomic bombing that devastated the city 79 years ago, when a US plane dropped the plutonium-containing bomb nicknamed “Fat Man.”
At 11:02 a.m., the exact local time of the explosion on August 9, 1945, a minute of silence was observed, followed by offerings of flowers and water in memory of the deceased and survivors.
Water is a symbol of that moment, as survivors desperately asked for water to quench the thirst generated by so many internal and external burns.
Approximately 70,000 Japanese lost their lives in Nagasaki immediately after the explosion, but hundreds of thousands of residents (mostly women and children) died later as a result of radiation.
Three days earlier, on August 6, 1945, similar horrors and consequences were experienced in the city of Hiroshima.
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki has demanded that the Japanese government sign and ratify a UN treaty banning nuclear weapons, and called on Japan to lead discussions to ease tensions and advance disarmament in Northeast Asia.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to lead international efforts to push for nuclear disarmament so that Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the only two cities in the world to have suffered such a tragedy.
The ceremony on Friday took place in front of the Statue of Peace, located near the hypocenter of the explosion.
Following an annual tradition, a Declaration for Peace was read there and an updated list of victims, including the names of survivors who died in the past twelve months, was posted at the memorial.
The death toll from the Nagasaki tragedy now stands at 198,785 people.
The decision of the United States to drop atomic bombs on the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when the war was almost won by the Allies, has been questioned by numerous historians.
Japan invaded and occupied many parts of Asia before and during World War II, inflicting untold suffering and heavy casualties on millions of innocent victims.
The massacre in Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to Japan’s unconditional surrender, with a human cost that continues to be paid to this day.
#years #atomic #bombing #Nagasaki #Japan
– 2024-08-10 22:50:37
