THE CITY of Hiroshima stands on a f

THE CITY of Hiroshima stands on a flat river delta on the Japanese island of Honshu.

At quarter past eight on the morning of 6 August 1945, the US plane Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city centre, a busy residential and business district, crowded with people going about their daily business.

The bomb, called ‘Little Boy’ because of its long, thin shape, was made from uranium 235. Unimpeded by hills or natural features to limit the blast, the fireball created by that single bomb destroyed 13 square kilometres of the city.

The heart of the explosion reached a temperature of several million degrees centigrade, resulting in a heat flash over a wide area, vapourising all human tissue. Within a radius of half a mile of the centre of the blast, every person was killed.

All that was left of people caught out in the open were their shadows burnt into stone.

Beyond this central area, people were killed by the heat and blast waves, either out in the open or inside buildings collapsing and bursting into flame.

In this area the immediate death rate was over 90 per cent. The firestorm created hurricane-force winds, spreading and intensifying the fire.

Almost 63 per cent of the buildings of Hiroshima were completely destroyed and nearly 92 per cent of the structures in the city were either destroyed or damaged by the blast and fire.

The total number of deaths was hard to establish, but at least 75,000 died in the first hours after the bomb was dropped, with around 140,000 dead by December 1945.

The death toll reached around 200,000 by the end of 1950.

Many of those who survived the immediate blast died shortly afterwards from fatal burns. Others with possibly less-fatal injuries died because of the breakdown of rescue and medical services, much of which had been destroyed, with personnel themselves killed.

Within two or three days, radiation victims who were near the hypocentre developed symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, bloody diarrhoea and hair loss. Most died within a week. Radiation victims further away from the explosion developed symptoms one to four weeks after the explosion.

Pregnant women who survived the bomb faced additional horrors, for the bomb had a terrible impact on a foetus. Many were stillborn, but those born alive faced higher infant mortality rates than normal, or had abnormally small skulls, often suffering from mental disabilities. From about 1960 a higher rate of cancer became evident, in particular of the thyroid, breast, lung and salivary gland.

Radiation is known to cause many types of cancer, and Japanese scientific research has now shown a direct correlation between the distance from the atomic bomb hypocentre, the probable exposure dose of radiation and cancer rates.

Conventional wisdom – especially in the US – about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki, is that it was necessary in order to bring about a speedy conclusion to the war and save lives. Even today many people genuinely believe that the bomb was necessary to bring about a Japanese surrender and to avoid the need for an invasion of Japan by the US, which might have cost hundreds of thousands of lives. But extensive scholarly research in the US, using primary sources from the time, shows that this just wasn’t true.

By the time the bomb was ready for use, Japan was ready to surrender. As General Dwight Eisenhower said, ‘Japan was at that very moment seeking some way to surrender with minimum loss of face. It was not necessary to hit them with that awful thing.’

So if Japan was ready to surrender, why were atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? A significant factor in the decision to bomb was the US’s desire to establish its dominance in the region after the war. Those planning for the postwar situation believed that this required US occupation of Japan, enabling it to establish a permanent military presence, shape its political and economic system and dominate the Pacific region

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Kota Hiroshima berdiri di delta Sungai datar di Pulau Jepang Honshu.Pada kuartal terakhir delapan pada pagi hari 6 Agustus 1945, pesawat AS Enola Gay menjatuhkan bom atom di pusat kota, sibuk pemukiman dan distrik bisnis, penuh sesak dengan orang-orang akan tentang bisnis harian mereka.Bom yang disebut 'Little Boy' karena bentuknya yang panjang, tipis, terbuat dari uranium-235. Tanpa hambatan hills atau fitur alam untuk membatasi ledakan, bola api dibuat oleh bom itu satu menghancurkan 13 kilometer persegi kota.Jantung ledakan mencapai suhu beberapa juta derajat Celcius, mengakibatkan panas flash atas wilayah yang luas, vapourising semua jaringan manusia. Dalam radius setengah mil dari pusat ledakan, setiap orang dibunuh.Semua yang tersisa dari orang-orang yang terperangkap keluar di tempat terbuka adalah bayangan mereka dibakar ke batu.Luar area pusat ini, orang tewas oleh gelombang panas dan ledakan, baik secara terbuka atau di dalam bangunan runtuh dan meledak ke dalam api.Di daerah ini angka kematian segera adalah lebih dari 90 persen. Badai yang menciptakan badai-kekuatan angin, menyebarkan dan mengintensifkan api.Hampir 63 persen bangunan Hiroshima hancur dan hampir 92 persen dari struktur di kota yang hancur atau rusak oleh ledakan dan kebakaran.Jumlah kematian sangat keras untuk membangun, tetapi paling sedikit 75.000 meninggal di jam pertama setelah bom dijatuhkan, dengan sekitar 140.000 mati oleh Desember 1945.The death toll reached around 200,000 by the end of 1950.Many of those who survived the immediate blast died shortly afterwards from fatal burns. Others with possibly less-fatal injuries died because of the breakdown of rescue and medical services, much of which had been destroyed, with personnel themselves killed.Within two or three days, radiation victims who were near the hypocentre developed symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, bloody diarrhoea and hair loss. Most died within a week. Radiation victims further away from the explosion developed symptoms one to four weeks after the explosion.Pregnant women who survived the bomb faced additional horrors, for the bomb had a terrible impact on a foetus. Many were stillborn, but those born alive faced higher infant mortality rates than normal, or had abnormally small skulls, often suffering from mental disabilities. From about 1960 a higher rate of cancer became evident, in particular of the thyroid, breast, lung and salivary gland.Radiation is known to cause many types of cancer, and Japanese scientific research has now shown a direct correlation between the distance from the atomic bomb hypocentre, the probable exposure dose of radiation and cancer rates.Conventional wisdom – especially in the US – about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki, is that it was necessary in order to bring about a speedy conclusion to the war and save lives. Even today many people genuinely believe that the bomb was necessary to bring about a Japanese surrender and to avoid the need for an invasion of Japan by the US, which might have cost hundreds of thousands of lives. But extensive scholarly research in the US, using primary sources from the time, shows that this just wasn’t true.By the time the bomb was ready for use, Japan was ready to surrender. As General Dwight Eisenhower said, ‘Japan was at that very moment seeking some way to surrender with minimum loss of face. It was not necessary to hit them with that awful thing.’So if Japan was ready to surrender, why were atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? A significant factor in the decision to bomb was the US’s desire to establish its dominance in the region after the war. Those planning for the postwar situation believed that this required US occupation of Japan, enabling it to establish a permanent military presence, shape its political and economic system and dominate the Pacific region