The State and the Survivors of Hiroshima

Abstract

Almost half a century ago, in 1945, the first nuclear weapons ever to be used in warfare exploded above the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reducing them and and many of their citizens to ashes, with nearly 130 000 people in Hiroshima and 70 000 in Nagasaki dying before the end of October. The atomic bombs dropped caused unprecedented destruction and death simply through the enormous energy which was unleashed in the multiple forms of blast, heat and radiation. However, the horrors of the bombing are not confined to the immediate impact. They have persisted to the present, handicapping and haunting the survivors. For the majority of the survivors, the bombs have meant a forty-five year period of considerable difficulties, hardships and suffering. As a result of the physiological, psychological and social damage, the survivors’ daily lives have turned out to be, and very much remain, arduous and miserable.