The bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy,” exploded about 600 metres above the centre of the city, setting off a surge of heat reaching 4,000 degrees Celsius across a radius of about 4.5 km. Credit: Reuters
Three days later, at 11:02 a.m. on Aug. 9, 1945, the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed “Fat Man”, on Nagasaki. Credit: Reuters
It exploded about 500 metres above the ground, instantly killing about 27,000 of the city’s estimated population of around 200,000. By the end of 1945, the number of dead due to acute radiation exposure reached about 70,000. Credit: Reuters
Japan has so far recognised the total number of victims who died of radiation illness and injuries in Hiroshima as 253,008 and in Nagasaki as 143,124. Credit: Reuters
Apart from this, last year the city of Hiroshima added for the first time the words “Many Unknown” to the ledger of the victims’ names placed in a container at the cenotaph of the Peace Memorial Park. Credit: Reuters
Published 04 August 2020, 10:25 IST