16 July 2010 - On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am, a B-29 approached Hiroshima from the northeast, passed over the city and dropped the first ever atomic bomb. The bomb exploded 43 seconds later at an altitude of 570 meter in a huge fireball, followed by a mushroom cloud of smoke that rose 8,910m in the air. There were approximately 350,000 people living in Hiroshima at the tme of the bomb and almost half of them lost their lives. The heat from the blast was so intense that it seared peoples' skin, while the pressure caused by the explosion tore clothes off bodies and caused the rupture and explosion of internal organs. Flying glass tore through flesh like bullets, and fires broke out all over the city. But that was not the end of it: people who survived the blast were subsequently exposed to huge doses of radioactivity. Even people who showed no outside signs of sickness suddenly died, creating panic and helplessness among survivors. Today, blast survivors continue to suffer from the effects of the bomb, with a high incidence of cancer, disfigurement and scars. Through my work I see the impact of war on peoples' lives - I felt I could not visit Japan without making the trip to Hiroshima. Today I went there and saw the impact of war..
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