The 80th Anniversary of the Bombing

Today, 80 years ago, at 08:15 a.m., a bomb exploded that would, within minutes, end the lives of perhaps fifty thousand civilians in Hiroshima, Japan, and usher the world into the Nuclear Age. The mushroom clouds and subsequent carnage and destruction of 6 August and 9 August 1945 in Nagasaki are perhaps the most recognizable symbols of the huge cost of war. They remain a warning of the risks that the world still faces and a call to action that we must do everything in our power to end war and protect civilians from these horrors.

Photo of the Destruction in Hiroshima in 1945 (AP: Stringer)

As a Rotary Peace Fellow in Japan, I met survivors and family members of victims of the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and traveled to both cities. Keiko Ogura of Hiroshima described how, at the age of eight, she witnessed a blinding flash followed by a powerful blast that slammed her onto the road and ignited fires that consumed what remained of her city. She recounted the horrific aftermath as she tried to bring water to two dying people who passed away in front of her, saw bodies filling the rivers, and watched the black rain fall along with the mysterious illnesses that followed. I met a Rotarian originally from Nagasaki who broke down into tears as he remembered the friends and family members he lost due to leukemia and other forms of cancer. What did these survivors demand? Not vengeance nor compensation. They demanded a world free of nuclear weapons.

Two Peace Fellows offer Prayers before the Hiroshima Peace Memorial with the grandchild of a survivor.

Survivors of the bomb are known as Hibakusha (被爆者), and many have been steadfast campaigners for a safer and more peaceful world. This past year,  the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations (known in Japanese as the Nihon Hidankyu) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.” The organization and survivors embody the core mission of the Rotary Peace Fellowship to be “effective catalysts for peace,” and my cohort of Peace Fellows was deeply inspired by hearing the stories of survivors and their vision of a nuclear-free world.

The Nagasaki Peace Statue is a symbol of hope with its right hand pointing to the sky, symbolizing the threat of nuclear weapons, and its left hand stretched out, representing peace.

With war breaking out earlier this year between the nuclear-armed nations of India and Pakistan, and nuclear threats in recent weeks between Russia and the United States, it is perhaps unsurprising that the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was changed to 89 seconds to midnight this year, the closest it has ever been before. There is still time, but we must take action to promote peace, nuclear non-proliferation, and disarmament.

The Atomic Bomb Dome has become a powerful symbol of Peace with demonstrations calling for Peace in other conflicts across the world. Peace Fellows also took part in a demonstration here in 2024.