Hiroshima Day – 6 August

Protesters with banners at Federation Square

From Medical Association for Prevention of War Australia:

Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Morning Vigil

 
The US atomic bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima at 8.15am on the 6 August 1945
 
Friday 6 August 2004
7.30 – 8.30am
@Federation Square [near the corner of Swanston and Flinders St]
 
Join us for even a few moments in silent remembrance for the victims of nuclear war
 
For more info: contact the Medical Association for Prevention of War (03) 8344 1637 or see http://www.mapw.org.au

Members of several anti-war and environmental groups, including Greenpeace, MAPW, Friends of the Earth, Nuclear Free Australia and VicPeace, and a few individuals, attended the vigil, a feature of which was a map of the world where the arsenals of the nuclear-armed states were represented by bits and pieces of medical paraphernalia:

Nuclear armaments map

Detail from map

Detail from map

Another detail from map

Detail from map

From a leaflet distributed by MAPW:

Members of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) are here this morning commemorating the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese city bombed by the United States with the first atomic weapon.

Hiroshima
was bombed at 8.15am on 6 August 1945. The bomb used was nicknamed “Little Boy”. 90 000 people (many of them women and children) were killed immediately; at least 145 000 were dead within the following months.

Three days later

Nagasaki

was bombed on the 9th August 1945.
The bomb used this time was nicknamed “Fat Man”. 40 000 people were killed immediately, with around 75 000 dead by the end of the year.

Today’s nuclear weapons are hundreds (and in some cases many thousands) of times more destructive than those used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In 2004, only 8 nations are known to have nuclear weapons: these are the United States of America, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan and Israel.
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