Eighty years don pass since di early morning of August 6, 1945, wen one US B-29 bomber comot from Tinian, wey dey for Northern Mariana Islands. By 8:15 am, di new bomb wey e carry explode for about 600 metres above di city.
For di first few seconds, one 300-metre fireball begin dey burn everything wey dey e front. Di hot fireball make di ground temperature rise pass 3800°C, wey vaporise all di living tissue wey dey di area.
Di bomb blast wave scatter buildings for every direction. Di gas wey di fireball burn create one big vacuum, wey make dust and debris rush enter di space. One thin mushroom cloud rise for di city wey don turn flat – Hiroshima.
For just minutes, 80,000 people die from di first nuclear weapon wey dem ever use for war. Hundreds of thousands later die from di wahala wey di bomb cause for di months wey follow. Di second attack wey happen for Nagasaki three days later kill another 100,000 people. At least 38,000 of di people wey die na pikin dem.
But, under di mushroom cloud, no be everybody die. Survivors like Setsuko Thurlow, wey be 13 years old wen di US bomb Hiroshima, don dey tell di world for decades wetin nuclear weapons fit do, so dat dem no go ever use am again. For di 2017 Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Setsuko tok her experience:
“As I dey crawl comot, di ruins dey burn. Most of my classmates wey dey dat building burn to death alive. Everywhere I look, na unimaginable destruction I see.
“People wey look like ghost dey waka pass. Dem body dey bleed, burn, black, and swell. Some no get some parts of dia body. Flesh and skin dey hang from dia bones. Some carry dia eyeballs for hand. Some belly don burst open, intestine dey outside.
“Di smell of burnt human flesh full everywhere. Na so one bomb take destroy my beloved city.”
Di tori of wetin nuclear weapons dey cause, even though e dey painful for survivors to tok, dey remind us say dis kind bomb na to cause massive harm. Di bombs wey dem drop for Hiroshima and Nagasaki small reach compared to di ones wey dey today.
Di Nuclear Ban Monitor tok say di 9,604 nuclear warheads wey dey ready for use by di beginning of 2025 get power wey pass 146,500 Hiroshima bombs. Each of dem fit destroy one city for seconds, kill tens of thousands for one fiery flash. With di plenty cities wey dey di world, di nuclear weapons wey dey ready fit destroy life as we sabi am.
Di US attack for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, plus di first nuclear test wey dem do for New Mexico some weeks before, show say nuclear weapons dey cause wahala wey go affect generations. E dey against human conscience and basic human rights.
80 years of living under di fear of nuclear weapons don too much, and di need to comot dem dey urgent. Di risk say dem fit use nuclear weapons again – whether by mistake or intentionally – dey high, especially with di nuclear tensions for Ukraine, Middle East, India and Pakistan, and di Korean peninsula.
Di survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, wey dem dey call hibakusha, don dey campaign for years to abolish nuclear weapons. Last December, di All Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, Nihon Hidankyo, win di Nobel Peace Prize for di work wey dem dey do.
Di 80th anniversary of di events wey change dia lives forever na di right time for leaders of nuclear-armed countries to do wetin di hibakusha don dey beg dem to do – join di UN Treaty on di Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and disarm.
Di TPNW dey grow strong – half of di world countries don sign or ratify am, and more go soon join. Dis treaty dey reject di dangerous belief say nuclear weapons dey protect peace, and e dey provide clear plan to comot nuclear weapons.
Di treaty involve governments, international organisations, civil society, di financial sector, and communities wey nuclear weapons don harm, including indigenous people, women, and children wey dey suffer pass from di effects of di weapons.
Dis treaty na di solution to end di nuclear threat because e provide di way for fair and verifiable disarmament under international law. With di nuclear tensions wey dey now, no be di time to reduce our ambition. Humanity no fit afford make another nuclear bomb drop or mushroom cloud rise again.
