On August 6, 1945, the US dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. More than 140,000 people died in the devastating blast which killed, maimed and traumatised civilians in the city for decades to come. Three days later, the Americans dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki that killed about 40,000 more and left a trail of destruction in its wake.
The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki became known for cancers, premature births and malformed babies. Survivors of the bombing and their families were shunned; the effects of the bomb blast outlived its survivors. This week the world remembers the fateful attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which changed the world forever.