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Atomic bomb in 1945: A look back at the destruction

This week the world remembers the fateful attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that changed the world forever.

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Atomic bomb Hiroshima
The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the US during the final stages of World War II in 1945. The two events are the only uses of nuclear weapons in war to date. [Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images]
By Al Jazeera and Agencies
Published On 6 Aug 2015

On August 6, 1945, the US dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. More than 140,000 people died in the devastating blast which killed, maimed and traumatised civilians in the city for decades to come. Three days later, the Americans dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki that killed about 40,000 more and left a trail of destruction in its wake.

The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki became known for cancers, premature births and malformed babies. Survivors of the bombing and their families were shunned; the effects of the bomb blast outlived its survivors. This week the world remembers the fateful attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which changed the world forever.

Atomic bomb Hiroshima
A view of ground zero in Hiroshima in the autumn of 1945, showing total destruction. The hypocentre (point directly below the bomb explosion) is approximately above the Y-shaped intersection at centre-left. To the right is the damaged Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall on the east side of the Motoyasu River also known as Atomic Bomb Dome. The Dome is near the T-shaped Aioi Bridge. [Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images]
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Atomic bomb Hiroshima
Hiroshima, Japan, in ruins after the dropping of the atomic bomb, August 6, 1945. August 1945. People have built a shelter. The bomb 'Little Boy', was dropped on Hiroshima by an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, flown by Colonel Paul Tibbets, directly killing an estimated 80,000 people. [Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images]
Atomic bomb Hiroshima
A Japanese soldier is walking through the wasteland of Hiroshima, which was destroyed by an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. The bomb 'Little Boy' was dropped on Hiroshima by an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, flown by Colonel Paul Tibbets, directly killing an estimated 80,000 people. By the end of the year, injury and radiation brought the total number of deaths to 90,000-166,000. [Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images]
Atomic bomb Hiroshima
Victims of the atomic blast sit in a makeshift hospital in a damaged bank building in the centre of Hiroshima. [Keystone/Getty Images]
Atomic bomb Hiroshima
Kiyoshi Yoshikawa, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, displays the heavy scarring on his back, soon after leaving hospital, August 13, 1951. [FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images]
hiroshima victim
Casualties suffering the effects of radiation. [Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images]
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Atomic bomb Hiroshima
Victim of the atomic bomb. [Photo12/UIG via Getty Images]
Atomic bomb Hiroshima
Sunao Tsuboi, one of the 'hibakusha' or survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, pictured 60 years later in New York City, April 29, 2005. He was a 20-year-old university student when the city of Hiroshima in Japan was bombed by Allied forces on August 6, 1945, and he still suffers the aftereffects of radiation. [Michael Brennan/Getty Images]