Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ban nuclear weapons now!

On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  

Tens of thousands were killed by the blast and fireball that destroyed the cities, and many more died of radiation sickness and injuries in the days and months that followed. In total 140,000 dead by 1945’s end.

Around 20,000 nuclear weapons still exist today, each of them able to unleash a humanitarian catastrophe. In November 2011, the Red Cross and Red Crescent stated that if nuclear weapons were used today, any attempts at responding to the humanitarian needs of survivors or provide any relief to victims would be utterly overwhelmed. Even a limited, regional nuclear war would have global health and humanitarian consequences on a scale never seen before. 

The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not the only victims of nuclear weapons. Still today there are catastrophic consequences for communities around nuclear test sites. People and communities in for example the Marshall Islands, Kazakhstan, Algeria, French Polynesia, as well as many veterans and military staff present during testing, have experienced the devastating effects from these weapons. The humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons are becoming increasingly important for giving impetus to their elimination, especially in a financial and environmental climate in which it is not only the use of nuclear weapons that has negative and lasting impacts on the safety and security of humanity and the planet, but also their continued possession and modernization.

For more information on the catastrophic humanitarian harm of nuclear weapons, check out ICAN's new booklet on the topic.

Today, on the anniversary of the catastrophic atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Reaching Critical Will wants to remind everyone that now is the time to negotiate a treaty banning and eliminating nuclear weapons.