The Mayor of Nagasaki, Tomihisa Taue, called out to Presidents and Prime Ministers of all countries presently owning nuclear ogives. “Visit Nagasaki, a city which suffered nuclear destruction,” he said during a widely attended ceremony which took place today, August 9th in memory of the victims of the atomic bombing in 1945.

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Pressenza, Nagasaki, 2009-08-09

I had no escape this time. In Hiroshima I did not have the courage to go inside the bomb museum. I invented an excuse, not enough time, and left the city without going there. I did not want to see the horrors of the atomic tragedy. Yesterday, in Nagasaki I decided to win resistances and I saw the pictures of the mutilated bodies and the raw wounds of the “Hibakusha” – the bomb survivors. I was shocked!

Today, August 9th, I participated in the memorial ceremony for the victims. How could I stay indifferent when they offer water to the dead near a monument with the names of the victims? I remembered the explanation that the worst part was not the lacerating pain of the wounds, but the thirst increasing day after day, hour after hour after the attack. They could not drink radioactive water.

I thought about how good it was to drink ice water in this 38°C heat, today in Nagasaki. On the day of the bomb, exactly August 9, 1945 at 11:02 a.m. it must have been just as hot.

I had avoided going into these details and horrible memories; however, I could not avoid going through all these images to fully understand and feel the clamor I have heard at times these days: Hiroshima nevermore! Nagasaki nevermore! Hibakusha – bomb survivors nevermore! We must absolutely eliminate all nuclear weapons from this planet.

The truth about the atomic horror

“Being a city attacked with nuclear weapons, Nagasaki has the responsibility of showing the world the truth about the horror of atomic bombs and to continue campaigning for the abolition of these weapons,” said Takashi Yoshihara, Chairman of the Nagasaki City Council, during the opening ceremony today August 9th.

The Mayor of Nagasaki, host of the event, widely attended like the only three days earlier in Hiroshima, gave a call to the Presidents of the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, Iran and the Prime Ministers of Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. All of the countries presently owning nuclear weapons.

“Visit the bomb atomic museum and stop in front of the images of nuclear devastation in which the bones of numerous victims were forever buried in. On August 9, 1945 at 11:02 am, Nagasaki was devastated by intense radiation, its temperature increased by several degrees centigrade with horrible deadly winds. Devastating flames transformed the city into a silent ruin,” said Taue in his speech today.

In almost all speeches, from Japanese notables, as well as other personalities, such a UN General Assembly President, Miguel D’Escoto, there were references to the hope rising from recent declarations by President Obama in favor of nuclear decommissioning.

More pictures of Nagasaki:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyotaro/sets/72157621862501173/

Pressenza editor, Alexandre Sammogini was invited by the Hiroshima City Council to pay homage to the victims of the atomic bomb. On August 5, the journalist will officially launch Pressenza Press Agency from Hiroshima with the symbolic lighting of a torch for the World March for Peace and Nonviolence. -

Further information:

www.theworldmarch.org

(Translation from Portuguese to English: Isabel Torres-Carrilho)

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