Hiroshima: Century-old buildings that survived bombing to be demolished
The Japanese city of Hiroshima, which was the target of atomic attack during the Second World War, planned to demolish two buildings that survived the bombings.
The Japanese city of Hiroshima, which was the target of nuclear attack during the Second World War, has planned to demolish two buildings that survived the bombings. A local committee reportedly informed that the buildings are prone to collapse during earthquakes that forced the administration to plan its demolition.
A Hiroshima Prefectural Government committee announced that the plan is to knock down the buildings by fiscal 2022. However, the local residents appealed to preserve the buildings as landmarks of the devastating incident of 1945. The buildings are located around 2.7 kilometres away from the hypocenter of the bombing and are among the biggest structures that survived the atomic bombing. The structures are part of three prefecture-owned buildings of the former Hiroshima Army Clothing Depot that produced military clothing and shoes. They were used as makeshift hospitals as well after the bombings.
Residents want to preserve the site
Residents of Hiroshima want the buildings to be turned into a facility for advancing the agenda of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The city was destroyed in the nuclear attack by the United States which claimed nearly one lakh lives and many remained affected for years by the radioactive emissions. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after reinforcement work to make it earthquake resistant, which serves as a memorial of the man-made catastrophe.
The nuclear attack destroyed most of the buildings and very few were built before the bomb remained within five kilometres of hypocentre. Three buildings of the prefecture survived the bombings since those were made from reinforced concrete. The third building will be repaired and reinforced to protect it from earthquakes and preserved. The Hiroshima building killed around 1,40,000 people after a country used the nuclear weapon for the first time during a war. But realising no immediate surrender by the Japanese, the American troops dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Japan surrendered six days after the attack on Nagasaki, officially bringing World War II to an end.
(With Inputs from Agencies)
Published By : Kunal Gaurav
Published On: 16 December 2019 at 16:53 IST