Remembering the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

 On the morning of 6 August 1945, the US Air Force dropped Little Boy, a nuclear bomb containing highly enriched uranium and the equivalent of 15 kilotons of TNT on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later Fat Man, a larger plutonium-filled bomb was detonated on the city of Nagasaki.

Tens of thousands of people died instantaneously from the blasts, with thousands more dying from burns and shock. In the months and years that followed, others died from illnesses like leukemia due to exposure from the bombs’ initial radiation. By 1950, the bombings had claimed an estimated 340,000 victims but the true figure will never be known.

Next week CND groups across the country will start commemorating the 78th anniversary of these catastrophic events. We do this to ensure the suffering of the victims is remembered and not subject to distorted justifications for the bombs’ use. 

You can find a commemorative event near you here and join other like-minded campaigners who want a world free from the risk nuclear apocalypse.

Almost eight decades on the threat of nuclear war remains very real, with nine states currently in possession of these weapons of mass destruction. In Europe, nuclear tensions remain high over the war in Ukraine – which has led to Russia stationing its own warheads in Belarus and the US bringing forward the deployment of its new B61-12 guided nuclear bomb to NATO bases in Europe – which likely includes Britain.

The British government too is moving ahead with its own nuclear weapons modernisation at a cost of billions of pounds. All of this is diverting vital funds from tackling climate change and supporting citizens through the cost of living crisis.

As the only examples of nuclear-weapons use during war, the victims of Nagasaki and Hiroshima offer an important reminder of why this nuclear taboo must never be broken again.