Essay On The Effects Of Hiroshima Bombing

The Holocaust, however, was not the only unification out of horror. Though the line can be blurred, the calculated killings in 1945 Hiroshima follows the lines of genocide. Detonated 580 meters above the ground, the atomic bombs purpose was carefully planned to result in the greatest devastation. Being in the city of Hiroshima, the height of the bomb allowed the effects to travel much farther as the density and proximity of the buildings would have stunted the effects otherwise. Almost all large concrete buildings were demolished with fatality rates nearly 100% 0.2 miles from the detonation site. Left untreated, radiation effects would kill up to 90% of people within .75 miles, those exposed dying anywhere from hours to weeks. Within 1 mile
(Hiroshima, 13)”. These casualties only included those in the medical field, not accounting for the other 66,000 deaths from the bomb explosion and 69,000 after due to injuries, radiation sickness, and lack of clean water or air. Psychologically, nuclear war is traumatizing. John Hersey’s Hiroshima tells the stories of six survivors preceding and following the bombings. Mr. Tanimoto, a reverend in the city, lost his wife, his child, his home, and his church in less than a minute. Still, he decided “He would spend his life working for peace. He was becoming convinced that the collective memory of the hibakusha would be a potent force for peace in the world, and that there ought to be in Hiroshima a center where the experience of the bombing could become the focus of international studies of means to assure that atomic weapons would never be used again”(Hiroshima, 143). Mr. Tanimoto did not live his life in spite; he saw how pointless that would be. Instead, Tanimoto seized an opportunity for prevention. The results were not going to quickly leave the minds of anyone around the world so this was the perfect time to