|
|
|
|
1945.8.9 At 11:02 a.m. August
9, 1945 |
| August 9, 1945. 11:02 a.m. Bockscar, the B-29 bomber carrying
a plutonium-core atomic bomb and commanded by 25-year- old Major Charles Sweeney,
dropped its deadly cargo over Nagasaki from a height of 9,600 meters. Like the
primary target Kokura, Nagasaki was overcast that morning. With barely enough
fuel remaining to reach Okinawa, Major Sweeney and his crew had to pinpoint their
target in the course of only one run over the city. By chance a crack opened
in the clouds, revealing the industrial zone stretching from the Mitsubishi sports
field in Hamaguchi-machi to the Mitsubishi Steel Works in Mori-machi and automatically
designating this as the bombing target. The actual explosion, however, occurred
some five or six hundred meters to the north over a tennis court in Matsuyama-machi.
The details of the explosion can be summarized as follows. |
|
|
| The mushroom cloud seen from an American aircraft |
 The
mushroom cloud seen from an American aircraft |
| Nagasaki two days before the atomic bombing |
 Nagasaki
two days before the atomic bombing |
| Nagasaki three days after the atomic bombing |
 Nagasaki three days after the atomic bombing |
| The atomic bomb mushroom cloud over Nagasaki on August
9, 1945 |
 Photograph
by Hiromichi Matsuda |
 Known
as Urakami, the district around the hypocenter (ground zero) area had been populated
for centuries by Japanese people of the Roman Catholic faith. At the time of
the bombing, between 15,000 and 16,000 Catholics - the majority of the approximately
20,000 people of that faith in Nagasaki and about half of the local population
- lived in the Urakami district. It is said that about 10,000 Catholics were
killed by the atomic bomb. Although traditionally a rustic isolated suburb, the
Urakami district was chosen as the site for munitions factories in the 1920s,
after which time the population soared and an industrial zone quickly took shape.
The district was also home to the Nagasaki Medical College and a large number
of other schools and public buildings. The industrial and school zones of the
Urakami district lay to the east of the Urakami River, while the congested residential
district of Shiroyama stretched to the hillsides on the west side of the river.
It was over this section of Nagasaki that the second atomic bomb exploded at
11:02 a.m., August 9, 1945. The damages inflicted on Nagasaki by the atomic bombing
defy description. The 20 machi or neighborhoods within a one kilometer radius
of the atomic bombing were completely destroyed by the heat flash and blast wind
generated by the explosion and then reduced to ashes by the subsequent fires.
About 80% of houses in the more than 20 neighborhoods between one and two kilometers
from the hypocenter collapsed and burned, and when the smoke cleared the entire
area was strewn with corpses. This area within two kilometers of the hypocenter
is referred to as the "hypocenter zone." The destruction caused by
the atomic bomb is analyzed as follows in Nagasaki Shisei Rokujugonenshi Kohen
[History of Nagasaki City on the 65th Anniversary of Municipal Incorporation,
Volume 2] published in 1959. The area within one kilometer of the hypocenter:
Almost all humans and animals died instantly as a result of the explosive force
and heat generated by the explosion. Wooden structures, houses and other buildings
were pulverized. In the hypocenter area the debris was immediately reduced to
ashes, while in other areas raging fires broke out almost simultaneously. Gravestones
toppled and broke. Plants and trees of all sizes were snapped off at the stems
and left to burn facing away from the hypocenter. The area within two kilometers:
Some humans and animals died instantly and a majority suffered injuries of varying
severity as a result of the explosive force and heat generated by the explosion.
About 80% of wooden structures, houses and other buildings were destroyed, and
the fires spreading from other areas burned most of the debris. Concrete and
iron poles remained intact. Plants were partially burned and killed. The area
between three and four kilometers: Some humans and animals suffered injuries
of varying severity as a result of debris scattered by the blast, and others
suffered burns as a result of radiant heat. Things black in color tended to catch
fire. Most houses and other buildings were partially destroyed, and some buildings
and wooden poles burned. The remaining wooden telephone poles were scorched on
the side facing the hypocenter. The area between four and eight kilometers: Some
humans and animals suffered injuries of varying severity as a result of debris
scattered by the blast, and houses were partially destroyed or damaged. The area
within 15 kilometers: The impact of the blast was felt clearly, and windows,
doors and paper screens were broken. Wall clock found in Sakamoto-machi about
1 km from the hypocenter. The hands stopped at the moment of the explosion: 11:02
a.m. The injuries inflicted by the atomic bomb resulted from the combined effect
of blast wind, heat rays (radiant heat) and radiation and surfaced in an extremely
complex pattern of symptoms. The death toll within a distance of one kilometer
from the hypocenter was 96.7% among people who suffered burns, 96.9% among people
who suffered other external injuries, and 94.1% among people who suffered no
apparent injuries. These data show that the deaths occurring immediately after
the atomic bombing were due not only to burns and external injuries but also
to severe radiation-induced injuries. The late medical effects of atomic bomb
exposure include "keloid" scars, atomic bomb cataracts, leukemia and
other cancers and microcephaly (small head syndrome) due to intrauterine exposure.
Although aware that the atomic bomb had the power to instantly kill or injure
all people within a radius of four kilometers, the authorities were unable to
determine the death toll and number of injuries in Nagasaki. Still today there
is no accurate data on the number of people who died. A variety of factors contributed
to this lack of information, such as the paralysis of administrative functions
in the aftermath of the bombing and the inability of the postwar government to
initiate a proper investigation. Another obstacle was the enduring nature of
disorders related to atomic bomb exposure. A progressive increase can be expected,
therefore, at whatever point in time calculations are made. There are countless
cases of people who suffered injuries on August 9 and died after fleeing to areas
outside Nagasaki city and prefecture, only to be registered as dying of causes
other than the atomic bombing. Because of the lack of knowledge about radioactive
contamination, meanwhile, many radiation deaths were attributed to diseases.
The Nagasaki municipal government officially adopted the figure of "more
than 70,000" deaths on the basis of information from population surveys
and the estimate made by the Nagasaki City Atomic Bomb Records Preservation Committee
in July 1950. Said the committee in its report: "73,884 people were killed
and 74,909 injured, and 17,358 of the deaths were confirmed by post- mortem examination
soon after the atomic bombing." |
|
