| ++Damage due to the Atomic-bomb++ |
The damage was amplified by the composite effect
of the heat rays, blast and radioactivity. It is estimated that a total
of 350,000 civilians and military personnel suffered from the direct effects
of bombing. We have no way to estimate the precise extent of the damage,
but it is thought that around 140,000 people died by the end of 1945 alone.
All buildings were completely destroyed within a radius of two kilometers
from the hypocenter.
U.S Army photo
|
| (1)
Damage by the Heat Rays |
At the moment of the atomic explosion, the fireball created reached
a diameter of more than 280 meters in the space of one second. The temperature
on its surface reached 5,000 degrees Celsius. |
| ++Damage to the Human Body from the Heat Rays++ |
 |
| People close to the center say that the atomic
explosion looked yellowish red, those farther away reported a bright bluish-white
light resembling burning magnesium. The severe heat rays from the explosion
cause burns to people in a radius of up to 3.5 kilometers. Those within
1.2 kilometers of the hypocenter sustained fatal injuries to their internal
organs and many died in the next few days. |
| ++Nails and Skin Left by a Junior High Student++ |
 Noriaki Teshima, a first-year student at Second Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High
School, was exposed while engaged in building demolition. Burned so severely
that skin hung loose from his whole body, he was rescued and taken home
by a friend. Unable to bear his thirst, he reportedly sucked the pus from
the ends of his fingers, from which the nails had peeled off. He died in
agony on the next day, August 7. His mother kept his fingernails and some
of his skin as a remembrance to show his father, who had been sent off
to war. |
| ++Damage to Materials from the Heat Rays++ |
Even in the area 600 meters from the hypocenter, the temperature
of the heat rays reached 2,000 degrees Celsius. Clothing and Indian-inked
letters written on papers that were located far from the explosion spot
were instantly burned. Wooden fences along the railway naturally ignited
and burned, too. |
| ++Round Roof Tile++ |
 Roof
tile surfaces within 600 meters of the hypocenter melted, becoming rough
and bubbly where they were exposed to direct heat rays. |
| ++A Human Shadow on the Steps (the segment of stone steps of the bank)++ |
A human shadow was imprinted on the steps at the entrance to
the Sumitomo Bank at Kamiya-cho, 250 meters from the hypocenter. This person
must have been sitting on the step, looking toward the hypocenter and died
on the place after being completely burned. The place where the person
had been sitting remained dark, while the surrounding surface of the stone
steps turned white due to the heat rays. |