Nagasaki day 2020: Know the history, meaning & significance of this day

In the history of mankind, there are two nuclear attacks whose devastation was at such a high scale that their consequences last till date. On August 6th in 1945, the US dropped an atom bomb in the city of Hiroshima and just two days later, on August 9th, in 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki as well. Both cities are in Japan and suffered huge devastation due to the nuclear attacks. Know why August 9th is observed as the Nagasaki Day every year. 

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Nagasaki Day 2020 meaning

The event occurred during World War II in the year 1945. Just six days after the Nagasaki bombing, the then-Japanese emperor Gyokuon-hoso then broadcasted a speech to the whole nation, telling about their surrender. The devastation in the Japan cities led the country to surrender in World War II. Nagasaki day is observed to commemorate the day when a 'Fat Man' atomic bomb, was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki and killed 80,000 people during World War II. 

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Why did the US drop a bomb on Japan cities - Hiroshima & Nagasaki?

Nagasaki Day history

It is believed that the reason for dropping the nuclear bombs on the cities was only military. It was expected that dropping the bomb would lead to ending the war quickly, thus the U.S. would have minimum casualties on their side. The bombing was a response to the attack of Americans at Pearl Harbour. 

The atomic bomb that was dropped on the Japanese cities were actually uranium bomb (at Hiroshima), while a slightly larger plutonium bomb aka Fat Man bomb, was dropped at Nagasaki that took the lives of over 75000 people in 1945. 

Nagasaki Day Significance

The impact of the nuclear attack was so severe that most of the doctors or nurses in Nagasaki were either killed or injured, and maximum hospitals were rendered non-functional. People suffered from many injuries including severe burns, where most victims die without receiving any medical care. The effect of the nuclear attack lingered so long that people who entered the city after the bombings also died due to the radiation effect. 

Even 5-6 years after the bombing, the survivors of the bombing started experiencing leukaemia at a much higher rate. After a decade passed from the bombing, survivors started experiencing other ailments like thyroid, breast, lung and other cancers at much higher frequencies.

At present times, the exposure of people to cancer is still at an alarming rate in these locations. It was reported back then that the pregnant women suffered miscarriages and death of their infants after these bombing incidents and the children who were exposed to radiation in their mother's womb were seen to have born experiencing impaired growth and intellectual disability. 

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