Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On 6th August 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by US air forces. 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.
The impact of the bombing on Hiroshima
Hiroshima stands on a flat river delta, with few hills or natural features to limit the blast. The bomb was dropped on the city centre, an area crowded with wooden residential structures and places of business.
The firestorm in Hiroshima destroyed 13 square kilometres (five square miles) of the city. Almost 63% of the buildings in Hiroshima were completely destroyed and many more were damaged. In total, 92% of the structures in the city were either destroyed or damaged by blast and fire.
Estimates of total deaths in Hiroshima have generally ranged between 100,000 and 180,000, out of a population of 350,000.
These two events still resonate to this day and serve as the greatest warning of the devastating effects of nuclear weapons.
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