Hiroshima Day is observed annually across Globe on 6th August in accordance to the remembrance of the world’s first atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, at the end of World War II.
- 6th August 2022 marks the 77th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombings.
Background:
i.On 6th August 1945, the American bomber Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped 5 ton atomic bomb, that is equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT (trinitrotoluene), named ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, Japan.
- The Little boy is an atomic bomb that weighed 9,000 pounds and 28 inches in diameter and carries a gun-type weapon with the power of 26,000,000 pounds of high explosives.
- Another bomb named, ‘Fat Man’ was dropped on Nagasaki of Japan on 9th August 1945.
- The root cause for the attack was the allied forces in World War II which included Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and China.
ii.The atomic bomb destroyed almost 4 square miles of Hiroshima and killed almost 1,40,000 people of Hiroshima and 80,000 people of Nagasaki, while the effects of radiation killed and affected many people in the following years.
Note- U.S. Army Air Force Colonel Paul Tibbets, was the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb over Hiroshima.
Highlights:
The annual ceremony of Hiroshima Day is conducted at the Peace Memorial Park, ‘The Genbaku Dome’, which was the only structure left behind after the bomb blast.
- The Genbaku Dome was declared as a World Heritage site under the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1996.
Events:
i.This was the first time when United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attended the meeting which comes against the backdrop of global discussions on nuclear disarmament.
ii.To commemorate the day, Antonio Guterres interacted with youth from across Japan to discuss their ideas and solutions for achieving a peaceful, more secure and sustainable world.
- The meeting has been organised by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), UN Information Centre, Tokyo (UNIC) and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), along with the Hiroshima Organisation for Global Peace (HOPe).
Keynote:
i.The 1st Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was held in Vienna, Austria, from 21st June 2022 to 23rd June 2022.
ii.The 10th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons will take place from 1st August 2022 to 26th August 2022 in New York, United States.