Lanterns and reflections
Ken Veitch ruminates on the bombing of Hiroshima
I t was morning, ‘going to work and school time’ when the nuclear bomb detonated 2,000 feet above Hiroshima city centre. Two and a half miles away, thermal radiation was twenty times greater than that of the sun. The blast wave travelled the same distance in ten seconds. Some 80,000 people died instantly and about 60,000 more suffered lingering deaths subsequently.
I have just watched the commemorations in Hiroshima of the atomic bombing of the city. The lanterns floating and reflecting their colours along the dark river in Hiroshima and the solemn tolling of the bell to mark the moment of explosion seventy years ago struck me as dignified and hopeful reminders of this awful event.
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