World | Other World Stories
Hiroshima remembers bombing with call to stop proliferation
Hiroshima's mayor urged the next US president to support a proposed ban on nuclear weapons yesterday, as Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of the atomic blast that obliterated this city and killed 140,000 people.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:07 August 7, 2008
-
Remembering a man-made inferno
Remembering a man-made inferno that struck Hiroshima 63 years ago
-
Marking Hiroshima Day
Revisiting Hiroshima 63yrs after the world's first atomic bombing
Hiroshima: Hiroshima's mayor urged the next US president to support a proposed ban on nuclear weapons on Wednesday, as Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of the atomic blast that obliterated this city and killed 140,000 people.
At the ceremony, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba also announced the launch of a two-year study to gauge the psychological toll of the August 6, 1945, attack in the closing days of World War II.
Japan submitted a resolution in the UN last year calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Akiba said that 170 nations supported it, with the US as one of only three countries opposed.
"We can only hope that the US president elected this November will listen conscientiously to the majority," Akiba told a crowd of 45,000 that included survivors, local residents and dignitaries from around the world.
Akiba addressed the crowd with the bombed-out dome of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial looming in the background, and hundreds of doves were released into the air after he finished his speech.
A moment of silence was observed at 8:15am (2315 GMT on Tuesday), which was the time of the blast. An estimated 140,000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months after the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload. Japan's official death toll of nearly 260,000 includes injured who have died in the decades since.
Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the US dropped a plutonium bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War II.
Akiba said more needs to be done for the remaining survivors, whose average age is now over 75. There are about 244,000 survivors, according to the health ministry.
Many have developed illnesses caused by radiation exposure, including cancer and liver diseases.
"The most severely neglected have been the emotional injuries," Akiba said, in announcing the new two-year psychological study. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda also spoke at the ceremony, emphasising Japan's continued policy against using nuclear weapons or allowing them onto its territory.
Share this article
Related Articles
News Editor's choice
-
Secret Service admits failure over White House-crashers
May pursue criminal investigation against salahis
-
Aquino, running mate file certificates of candidacy
Number of showbusiness glitterati show support for Cory's son
-
Polanski chalet secured for sentence
Court order specifies monitoring bracelet to be worn by sex offender
