Never Again!
Hiroshima remembers atomic bomb attack:
JAPAN: Sixty-five years after the destruction of Hiroshima in
an atomic inferno, the United States for the first time sent an envoy
yesterday to commemorate the bombing that rang in the nuclear age.
Its World War II allies Britain and France, both declared nuclear
powers, also sent their first diplomats to the ceremony in the western
Japanese city in a sign of support for the goal of nuclear disarmament.
Japan, the only country that has ever been attacked with atomic
weapons — first on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima, and three days later in
Nagasaki — has pushed for their abolition ever since. US Ambassador John
Roos will attend the ceremony, which is held each year to remember the
attack, reflecting US President Barack Obama’s push for a world without
nuclear weapons.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon becoming the first UN
Chief to take part in the annual event at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial
said:”The only way to ensure that such weapons will never again be used
is to eliminate them all,” as he met elderly survivors, known as “hibakusha”,
at the site of the Nagasaki blast.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony began at 8 am with the laying
of wreaths by Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, Prime Minister Naoto Kan
and government officials, as well as representatives of survivors.
Participants observed a minute’s silence at 8:15 am, the time at
which the nuclear bomb was dropped. This was followed by a speech from
Akiba and the release of 1,000 doves in a symbolic gesture for peace.
“Little Boy”, the four-tonne uranium bomb detonated over Hiroshima,
caused a blinding flash and a fireball hot enough to melt sand into
glass and vaporise every human within a one mile (1.6 kilometre) radius.
An estimated 140,000 people died instantly or succumbed to burns and
radiation sickness soon after the Hiroshima blast, and more than 70,000
perished as a result of the Nagasaki attack three days later.
Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War II in the Pacific.
TOKYO, Friday, AFP. |
