Effects Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki

During World War II, the Japanese launched an attack on the United States, bombing Pearl Harbor. In return, the United States launched a counterattack, which happened to involve nuclear weapons. They dropped bombs on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing a total of 192,020 people in Hiroshima, and over 70,000 people in Nagasaki (Hall, par. 4, par. 6). During the attack on Pearl Harbor, only around 2,400 people lost their lives (Maranzani, par. 1). Many people were outraged and shocked after the attacks, while there were immense short term effects, and awful long term effects. Dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was nonessential to winning the war, and led to widespread destruction of vegetation and lives. After the initial bombings,

Well, these citizens not only had long lasting health effects, they also had long lasting psychological effects and long lasting radiation to deal with. At the time, many people in and around Hiroshima and Nagasaki were exposed to radiation. The Center for Nuclear Studies at Columbia University, in a study, wrote, ‘Though exposure to radiation can cause acute, near-immediate effect by killing cells and directly damaging tissue, radiation can also have effects that happen on longer scale, such as cancer, by causing mutations in the DNA of living cells.’ (par. 5). They go on to talk about how most of the survivors of the bomb ended up with leukemia (par. 6). In the study, Colombia University saw a trend in the diagnosis of leukemia, ‘An increase in leukemia appeared about two years after the attacks and peaked around four to six years later.’ The study also stated it was found most often in children (par. 6). They then talk about how other cancers didn’t start to develop until ten years after the bombs went off (Heidenreich, par. 7). When it comes to the cities themselves, there is no radiation there currently. (Heidenreich, par. 10). The Colombia University ends their study by stating:
‘After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many thought that any city targeted by an atomic weapon would become a nuclear wasteland. While the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombings was horrendous and nightmarish, with innumerable casualties, the populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not allow their cities to become the sort of wasteland that some thought was inevitable.’ (par.