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Hiroshima remembers atomic attack

Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:42 am
by Daniel Leahy
Hi All,

The following comes from the ABC website:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/20 ... 707435.htm
Hiroshima remembers atomic attack
Tens of thousands of people from around the world have gathered in Hiroshima to pray for peace and urge the world to abandon nuclear weapons on the 61st anniversary of the first atomic bombing.

In an annual ritual to mourn the more than 220,000 people who ultimately died from the blast, a crowd including survivors, children and dignitaries gathered at the Peace Memorial Park, near ground zero where the bomb was dropped.

"Radiation, heat, blast and their synergetic effects created a hell on Earth," Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said.

Lamenting a global trend towards nuclear proliferation, Mr Akiba called for a campaign to free the world of atomic weapons.

"Sixty-one years later, the number of nations enamoured of evil and enslaved by nuclear weapons is increasing," Mr Akiba told the crowd.

"The human family stands at a crossroads. Will all nations be enslaved? Or will all nations be liberated?"

The Peace Bell tolled at 8:15am local time - the moment the Enola Gay B-29 warplane dropped the bomb on August 6, 1945, as the crowd stood and bowed their heads for a moment of silence.

The United States dropped a second atomic bomb on the southern city of Nagasaki on August 9.

Six days later, Japan surrendered.