HIROSHIMA-Nagasaki-Fukushima
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abdullah
Aug 6, 2011, 4:37:19 PM8/6/11
to Indonesia-welcome to Almighty, maledive...@googlegroups.com, malaysia...@googlegroups.com, srilanka...@googlegroups.com
Today.6.8.1945 was HIROSHIMA / NAGASAKI Desaster, today the leader of
Japan announced the end of this technology ATOM.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2011/08/20118514019236497.html
Keijiro Matsushima was 16 years old when he witnessed the attack which
claimed roughly 100,000 lives in one day.
He recalls how August 6, 1945, was a beautiful day, with a blue sky.
Matsushima had returned to school only a week earlier, after he and
his peers were mobilised to work for a year and a half in a factory
producing military uniforms.
At 8.15 in the morning, his class had just started. He was listening
to his teacher explaining a question on differential and integral
calculus.
"I was looking out through the window and saw two American B-29
bombers. I just thought 'American planes again', assuming they were
out for some routine work."
When he looked back at his books, the bomb exploded.
"There was a very strong flash and a heat wave. The whole world turned
into something orange. I felt like I was thrown into an oven for a
moment".
Later, he learned that temperatures on the ground near the hypocentre,
2km from his school, had reached at least 3,000 degrees centigrade.
'Help me Buddha'
The flash was followed by a loud boom. Until now, Matsushima doesn't
know whether it was the sound of the explosion or of collapsing
buildings.
Matsushima returned to Hiroshima three years after the bombing and
still lives there [Al Jazeera/Cajsa Wikstrom)
"I covered my ears and eyes and jumped under the desk," he says.
"It was pitch black, I could see nothing. So many boys in the room,
but no one screamed.
"There was a deadly silence. I was crawling around, thinking 'help me
mother, help me Buddha'. It was the first time I prayed to Buddha."
Matsushima describes himself as one of the most fortunate survivors.
He got some cut wounds from glass splinters, but suffered no serious
injuries.
"I thought it had been just one bomb. But when I got out, I was
shocked to see that all buildings had been hit. I was thinking, 'just
two planes, what did they do?"
One of his friends had a big cut in his head. Matsushima covered the
wound with a piece of textile and supported his friend as they walked
slowly towards the nearby Red Cross hospital.
'Procession of ghosts'
Buildings were on fire and the two boys met scores of injured people
walking along the tram tracks, away from the mayhem in the heart of
the city.
"Their hair stood up straight. Some had lost their hair," Matsushima
recalls.
"Some were so badly burned from head to toe, their skin peeling from
their heads. Their clothes were burned, some were almost naked.
"I thought to myself, 'Hiroshima is dying'.
"I could see red muscle under their skin. They held their arms
forward, all of them ... They were walking slowly in a long line,
hundreds of them, like a procession of ghosts."
"I could see red muscle under their skin. They held their arms
forward, all of them, maybe because of the wounds. They were walking
slowly in a long line, hundreds of them, like a procession of ghosts."
But a lot of people could walk no more.
"People were crawling towards the river, crying out for water to cool
their burns. But many died on the river banks or drowned. The river
was full of bodies."
Matsushima says the Red Cross hospital had also been damaged in the
blast, and only a few doctors and nurses, themselves wounded, were
struggling to treat hundreds of injured.
Realising that there was no help to get, Matsushima walked away with
his friend, who was fortunate enough to be picked by a rescue truck
and taken to a hospital outside the city.
Within 2km of the hypocentre, most buildings were completely burned
and destroyed.
Strategic city
Hiroshima played a strategically important role during the second
world war, housing army supply facilities and some of the military
headquarters.
About 400,000 people were in the city when the bomb was dropped. Most
residents had been mobilised to work in military factories along with
Koreans and other forced labour. Many forced labourers survived harsh
working conditions only to be killed in the bombing.
Matsushima's mother had evacuated the city earlier in the year,
following the death of her husband.
Japanese campaigners urge a nuclear-free future
The dormitory where Matsushima was staying had been destroyed. He left
Hiroshima on foot, and managed to get on a rescue train some
kilometres away, to finally reach his mother's house in the
countryside.
She had seen the mushroom cloud of smoke billowing above the city, and
had assumed that her son had been killed.
The next day, Matsushima became very ill, with fever and diarrhoea,
but he recovered after a week. He thinks that because he stayed away
from the city after the disaster, he avoided most of the radiation.
Many others stayed in Hiroshima to help with rescue efforts or search
for loved ones, not knowing about the danger they were exposed to.
"I've been ill from time to time, but thank Buddha, I'm still alive",
Matsushima says.
City rebuilt
The fact that the atom bomb was dropped during the hot season slowed
the recovery process for those with injuries, many of whom got
infested wounds.
"They got maggots in their wounds and took them out with chopsticks.
People died, one by one," Matsushima says, shaking his head at the sad
memories.
"They got maggots in their wounds and took them out with chopsticks.
People died, one by one."
Just three days after Hiroshima was hit, another atomic bomb was
dropped on the city of Nagasaki.
Only after Japan surrendered on August 15 did the Japanese found out
what kind of bombs the Americans had actually used.
By the end of the year, about 140,000 deaths in Hiroshima were
attributed to the bomb, including people killed in the explosion and
later due to radiation and injuries.
Up to 80,000 people were killed in Nagasaki.
Today, Hiroshima is a modern city, completely rebuilt, with a
population of about one million. Only the so-called A-bomb dome stands
as a reminder of the massive destruction. The building was used as an
exhibition hall at the time and its robust concrete structure was left
standing as the bomb exploded almost directly above it.
Despite the sufferings the attack caused, Matsushima feels no
bitterness towards the Americans.
"People go crazy in wars, wanting to kill the enemy. If Japan had
owned an A-bomb, we might have used it. Arguing about the past is
nonsense. Now we have to co-operate to abolish all nukes."
Japan announced the end of this technology ATOM.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2011/08/20118514019236497.html
Keijiro Matsushima was 16 years old when he witnessed the attack which
claimed roughly 100,000 lives in one day.
He recalls how August 6, 1945, was a beautiful day, with a blue sky.
Matsushima had returned to school only a week earlier, after he and
his peers were mobilised to work for a year and a half in a factory
producing military uniforms.
At 8.15 in the morning, his class had just started. He was listening
to his teacher explaining a question on differential and integral
calculus.
"I was looking out through the window and saw two American B-29
bombers. I just thought 'American planes again', assuming they were
out for some routine work."
When he looked back at his books, the bomb exploded.
"There was a very strong flash and a heat wave. The whole world turned
into something orange. I felt like I was thrown into an oven for a
moment".
Later, he learned that temperatures on the ground near the hypocentre,
2km from his school, had reached at least 3,000 degrees centigrade.
'Help me Buddha'
The flash was followed by a loud boom. Until now, Matsushima doesn't
know whether it was the sound of the explosion or of collapsing
buildings.
Matsushima returned to Hiroshima three years after the bombing and
still lives there [Al Jazeera/Cajsa Wikstrom)
"I covered my ears and eyes and jumped under the desk," he says.
"It was pitch black, I could see nothing. So many boys in the room,
but no one screamed.
"There was a deadly silence. I was crawling around, thinking 'help me
mother, help me Buddha'. It was the first time I prayed to Buddha."
Matsushima describes himself as one of the most fortunate survivors.
He got some cut wounds from glass splinters, but suffered no serious
injuries.
"I thought it had been just one bomb. But when I got out, I was
shocked to see that all buildings had been hit. I was thinking, 'just
two planes, what did they do?"
One of his friends had a big cut in his head. Matsushima covered the
wound with a piece of textile and supported his friend as they walked
slowly towards the nearby Red Cross hospital.
'Procession of ghosts'
Buildings were on fire and the two boys met scores of injured people
walking along the tram tracks, away from the mayhem in the heart of
the city.
"Their hair stood up straight. Some had lost their hair," Matsushima
recalls.
"Some were so badly burned from head to toe, their skin peeling from
their heads. Their clothes were burned, some were almost naked.
"I thought to myself, 'Hiroshima is dying'.
"I could see red muscle under their skin. They held their arms
forward, all of them ... They were walking slowly in a long line,
hundreds of them, like a procession of ghosts."
"I could see red muscle under their skin. They held their arms
forward, all of them, maybe because of the wounds. They were walking
slowly in a long line, hundreds of them, like a procession of ghosts."
But a lot of people could walk no more.
"People were crawling towards the river, crying out for water to cool
their burns. But many died on the river banks or drowned. The river
was full of bodies."
Matsushima says the Red Cross hospital had also been damaged in the
blast, and only a few doctors and nurses, themselves wounded, were
struggling to treat hundreds of injured.
Realising that there was no help to get, Matsushima walked away with
his friend, who was fortunate enough to be picked by a rescue truck
and taken to a hospital outside the city.
Within 2km of the hypocentre, most buildings were completely burned
and destroyed.
Strategic city
Hiroshima played a strategically important role during the second
world war, housing army supply facilities and some of the military
headquarters.
About 400,000 people were in the city when the bomb was dropped. Most
residents had been mobilised to work in military factories along with
Koreans and other forced labour. Many forced labourers survived harsh
working conditions only to be killed in the bombing.
Matsushima's mother had evacuated the city earlier in the year,
following the death of her husband.
Japanese campaigners urge a nuclear-free future
The dormitory where Matsushima was staying had been destroyed. He left
Hiroshima on foot, and managed to get on a rescue train some
kilometres away, to finally reach his mother's house in the
countryside.
She had seen the mushroom cloud of smoke billowing above the city, and
had assumed that her son had been killed.
The next day, Matsushima became very ill, with fever and diarrhoea,
but he recovered after a week. He thinks that because he stayed away
from the city after the disaster, he avoided most of the radiation.
Many others stayed in Hiroshima to help with rescue efforts or search
for loved ones, not knowing about the danger they were exposed to.
"I've been ill from time to time, but thank Buddha, I'm still alive",
Matsushima says.
City rebuilt
The fact that the atom bomb was dropped during the hot season slowed
the recovery process for those with injuries, many of whom got
infested wounds.
"They got maggots in their wounds and took them out with chopsticks.
People died, one by one," Matsushima says, shaking his head at the sad
memories.
"They got maggots in their wounds and took them out with chopsticks.
People died, one by one."
Just three days after Hiroshima was hit, another atomic bomb was
dropped on the city of Nagasaki.
Only after Japan surrendered on August 15 did the Japanese found out
what kind of bombs the Americans had actually used.
By the end of the year, about 140,000 deaths in Hiroshima were
attributed to the bomb, including people killed in the explosion and
later due to radiation and injuries.
Up to 80,000 people were killed in Nagasaki.
Today, Hiroshima is a modern city, completely rebuilt, with a
population of about one million. Only the so-called A-bomb dome stands
as a reminder of the massive destruction. The building was used as an
exhibition hall at the time and its robust concrete structure was left
standing as the bomb exploded almost directly above it.
Despite the sufferings the attack caused, Matsushima feels no
bitterness towards the Americans.
"People go crazy in wars, wanting to kill the enemy. If Japan had
owned an A-bomb, we might have used it. Arguing about the past is
nonsense. Now we have to co-operate to abolish all nukes."
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