Hiroshima devastation

The nuclear explosions that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 100,000 to 200,000 people instantaneously. Probably an equal number died later, victims of the radiation released in those explosions. Millions of people were exposed to the radioactivity released by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The full health effects of that accident may never be known, but 31 people died of radiation sickness within a few weeks of the accident, and more than 2000 people have developed thyroid cancer through exposure to radioactive iodine released in the accident. Even low levels of radiation can cause health problems. For this reason, workers in facilities that use radioisotopes monitor their exposure to radiation continually, and they must be rotated to other duties if their total exposure exceeds prescribed levels. 

II. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb (nicknamed as Little Boy ) was dropped by an American B-29 bomber (Enola Gay) over Hiroshima, Japan instantly killing more than 70000 people. On August 9, 1945, the USA dropped a second atomic bomb (nicknamed Fat Man ) killing some 40000 people in Nagasaki, Japan. Because of this large-scale devastation, such nuclear explosive devices have never again been used in a war. 

During World War II an intense research effort (the Manhattan Project) was carried out by the United States to build a bomb based on the principles of nuclear fission. This program produced the fission bombs that were used with devastating effects on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Basically, a fission bomb operates by suddenly combining two subcritical masses of fissionable material to form a supercritical mass, thereby producing an explosion of incredible intensity. 

Radiological terrorism is the use of radioactive material to cause human casualties, environmental destruction and maximum disruption, panic and fear (1) in the general population for political purposes. Since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, with 150,000 casualties and 75,000 fatalities (2), people have feared nuclear explosives more than any other weapons of mass destruction, because of the ability of these weapons to cause immediate devastation and trauma, and because radiation, undetected by human senses, can cause ongoing morbidity and mortality, including cancer, years after exposure (3). 

August 6, 1945 The first uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan causes devastating destruction. Sixty-six thousand people die and more than 69,000 people are injured. 

President Truman has stated that the bomb which devastated Hiroshima on 6th August 1945, was equivalent in its explosive power to more than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It has been estimated that the total cost involved in the production of this type of bomb was of the order of 700 million. 

A year later he stiU saw no defense against atomic weapons. He described with compassionate horror the terrible devastation of Hiroshima One is struck by the picture of fires raging unopposed, wounds remaining unattended, sick men killing themselves with the exertions of helping their... 

Fig. 4.24 A picture of the Chernobyl reactor after explosion (/ ) and the city of Hiroshima after the devastation of the atomic homh (right). (Copyright-free Wikipedia pictures)...

It is hard for me to believe today bow little I knew then about the bomb and its devastation. There had already been a thorough and authoritative survey of the short-term medical impact of the two bombs on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the reports were all classified, and none of their contents had been made available to me. 

The speaker was Dr. Tsuno, the dean. Quite by chance, he had seen, a day earlier, what the new kind of bomb had done to Hiroshima. It is a most terrible devastation that has befallen Hiroshima, he told his colleagues. There is not a single house or tree left undamaged in an area that encompasses three or four railway stations. ... 

The detonation of nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 during World War II led to the immediate deaths of approximately 200,000 people, primarily civilians, as well as lasting injury and later death of many others and massive devastation - and widespread radioactive contamination - of the environment in these two cities [5], In addition to the potential for the use of nuclear weapons by national armed forces, such as that described in the recent U.S. Nuclear Posture Review, which threatened use of nuclear weapons under a wider range of circumstances, there is an increasing threat of their use by individuals and groups [6]. 

After the August 6 bombing the Japanese were slow to respond to what had occurred at Hiroshima. The damage was so severe that all communications with the city were down, and many officials were not sure what had occurred. Even among the Japanese leaders who knew of the devastation, many hard-liners still opposed surrender. 

Roosevelt died before the United States loosed its atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so he never saw the bomb s devastating powers or its psychological impact on the world. Many of those who did soon echoed Roosevelt s beliefs, suggesting that conventional warfare—in which armies are summoned to face one another on the battlefield— would no longer be a part of life on earth. 

In all probability Admiral Leahy s response helped to discourage JCS consideration of the Army s proposal for initiating gas warfare. When the service chiefs went off to the Potsdam Conference in July they presumably also had in mind the thought of using a newer and more devastating weapon, even then being readied for test in the hot desert of New Mexico. After the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima the Pacific war rapidly came to a dramatic close. 

Their work led to the explosion of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert at 5 30 a.m. on July 16,1945. Less than a month later (August 6,1945), the world learned of this new weapon when another bomb was exploded over Hiroshima. This bomb killed 70,000 people and completely devastated an area of 10 square kilometers. Three days later, Nagasaki and its inhabitants met a similar fate. On August 14, Japan surrendered, and World War II was over. 

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