Long after the bombings, survivors were still suffering from increased susceptibility to leukaemia, cataracts and malignant tumours with many also being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder later in life. This was compounded by the fact that 90% of medical staff in both cities were either killed or disabled and what medical supplies existed quickly ran out. These two events still resonate to this day and serve as the greatest warning of the devastating effects of nuclear weapons.Īs well as the high death toll, those that survived the initial detonation and firestorms quickly became ill with radiation poisoning with symptoms ranging from severe burns, hair loss, nausea and bleeding. Estimates of casualties from Nagasaki have generally ranged between 50,000 and 100,000, with many dying instantaneously and others dying slowly and agonisingly as a result of burns and radiation. The nuclear bombing did nevertheless prove devastating, with approximately 22.7% of Nagasaki’s buildings being consumed by flames, but the death toll and destruction was less than in Hiroshima. The centre of Nagasaki, the harbour, and the historic district were shielded from the blast by the hills around the Urakami River. Tens of thousands died immediately and many more in the days and months that followed.ĭue to the hilly geography of Nagasaki and the bombing focus being away from the city centre, the excessive damage from the bombing was limited to the Urakami Valley and part of downtown Nagasaki. In total, 92% of the structures in the city were either destroyed or damaged by blast and fire.Įstimates of total deaths in Hiroshima have generally ranged between 100,000 and 180,000, out of a population of 350,000. Almost 63% of the buildings in Hiroshima were completely destroyed and many more were damaged. The firestorm in Hiroshima destroyed 13 square kilometres (five square miles) of the city. These factors meant that the death toll and destruction in Hiroshima was particularly high. The bomb was dropped on the city centre, an area crowded with wooden residential structures and places of business.
Hiroshima stands on a flat river delta, with few hills or natural features to limit the blast. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing between 50,000 and 100,000 people. View CND’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki exhibition.Join CND campaign against nuclear weapons.This was the first time a nuclear weapon had ever been used the fireball created by the bomb destroyed 13 square kilometres of the city, and those dead as a result numbered up to 180,000. On 6th August 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by US air forces.
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