Who are the Hibakusha?

About Hibakusha:

• Hibakusha is the Japanese word for survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 
  • On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
  • Three days later, the US dropped a second atomic bomb, known as Fat Man, on Nagasaki, Japan.
• By the end of 1945, more than 200,000 people died as a direct result of these bombings. 
• Many thousands of people survived with injuries from the attacks. They came to be known as hibakusha, which translates to bomb-affected-people.
• Niju hibakusha, double survivors, applies to more than 160 people who were present at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 
• Currently, the combined number of ‘hibakusha’ who are alive is officially 1,06,825, according to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Their average age is 85.6 years.
• Hibakusha receives support from the Japanese government, including a medical allowance.
• However, in Japan there continues to be discrimination against both the hibakusha and their children, and even grandchildren, based on the common belief that they may be physically or psychologically weakened and that radiation effects are hereditary or contagious. 

Q1: What is an atomic bomb?

It is a weapon whose great explosive power results from the sudden release of energy upon the splitting, or fission, of the nuclei of heavy elements such as plutonium or uranium. The first atomic bomb, developed by the Manhattan Project during World War II, was set off on July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert. The only atomic bombs used in war were dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and on Nagasaki three days later. 

Source: Sufferers, awarded: On the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize