The Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima

The bomb exploded over Hiroshima…slightly northwest at the center of the city. Its impact left Hiroshima uniformly and extensively devastated. The surprise, the collapse of many buildings, and the conflagration contributed to an unprecedented casualty rate. A number of Seventy to eighty thousand people were killed, or missing and presumed dead. The impact of the bomb shattered the normal fabric of community life and disrupted the organizations for handling the disaster. However, within 24 hours, people were streaming back in search of relatives and friends and to determine the extent of their property loss. The exact number of dead and injured will never be known because of the confusion after the explosions. Most of death and injury were flash burns, secondary effects of blast and falling debris, and burns from blazing buildings. Some of the dead were said by survivors to have had their abdomens ruptured and intestines protruding.