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August 06: Hiroshima remembered
By: Pallavi SharmaSunrise had already come at 8:15 am on August 6,1945, but the fireball overhead was so blinding that in Hiroshima it became known as the day the sun rose twice.
By: Pallavi Sharma
Sunrise had already come at 8:15 am on August 6,1945, but the fireball overhead was so blinding that in Hiroshima it became known as the day the sun rose twice. The significance of the world`s first nuclear bomb attack was to have an impact on generations to come. Unknown to those who survived the devastation, it was only the beginning of a nightmare beyond human imagination.
There seemed no end to the agony that outlived an entire generation. The insidious effects of radiation gnawed away at blood, eyesight and nerves for decades. Thousands were hounded by leukemia or defaced for life. Survivors were terrified as to what might develop every time their children got a simple nosebleed. Nothing was what it seemed. Victims too often became outcasts. Although the Japanese government has declared no evidence that atomic bombs generate genetic defects, controversy still simmers. Second-generation Hiroshima children continue to face discrimination when it comes to getting married — it is feared the bomb still lurks in their genes.
Today, Hiroshima`s population is more than a million. The newspapers report the standings of its baseball team in the national Japanese leagues. But it can never be a normal city.
Peace Memorial Park stands at the centre of the town, dominated by a skeletal dome. On display is a Buddha in stone,its head defaced by the lethal bomb. Visitors see the shadow of a man printed by the extreme heat into the stone step where he had been sitting.
August 6, 1945 started a unique new chapter. Since "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima and "Fat Man" on Nagasaki three days later, each of us lives with the curse that humanity`s time on Earth is not permanent. In 24 hours we could make our world as free of human life as Jupiter.
Meanwhile, as every year, the city of Hiroshima readies itself for commemoration. It should be memorialized worldwide. Remembering the grotesque morning on which human beings made the sun-rise twice may stimulate a collective resolve to never broach that abyss again.
Sunrise had already come at 8:15 am on August 6,1945, but the fireball overhead was so blinding that in Hiroshima it became known as the day the sun rose twice. The significance of the world`s first nuclear bomb attack was to have an impact on generations to come. Unknown to those who survived the devastation, it was only the beginning of a nightmare beyond human imagination.
There seemed no end to the agony that outlived an entire generation. The insidious effects of radiation gnawed away at blood, eyesight and nerves for decades. Thousands were hounded by leukemia or defaced for life. Survivors were terrified as to what might develop every time their children got a simple nosebleed. Nothing was what it seemed. Victims too often became outcasts. Although the Japanese government has declared no evidence that atomic bombs generate genetic defects, controversy still simmers. Second-generation Hiroshima children continue to face discrimination when it comes to getting married — it is feared the bomb still lurks in their genes.
Today, Hiroshima`s population is more than a million. The newspapers report the standings of its baseball team in the national Japanese leagues. But it can never be a normal city.
Peace Memorial Park stands at the centre of the town, dominated by a skeletal dome. On display is a Buddha in stone,its head defaced by the lethal bomb. Visitors see the shadow of a man printed by the extreme heat into the stone step where he had been sitting.
August 6, 1945 started a unique new chapter. Since "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima and "Fat Man" on Nagasaki three days later, each of us lives with the curse that humanity`s time on Earth is not permanent. In 24 hours we could make our world as free of human life as Jupiter.
Meanwhile, as every year, the city of Hiroshima readies itself for commemoration. It should be memorialized worldwide. Remembering the grotesque morning on which human beings made the sun-rise twice may stimulate a collective resolve to never broach that abyss again.