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Comparing Japanese Disasters: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, 2011 Quake
William Browning William Browning – Tue Mar 15, 1:00 pm ET
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Three major tragedies have marked Japan's modernization in the past 100
years. The end of World War II was marked by two nuclear bombs detonated
over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now in 2011, a massive natural disaster could
lead to more problems with reactors marking another possible nuclear tragedy
for Japan.
Here is a comparison between the horrors of two 1945 nuclear blasts and the
earthquake devastation in 2011.
Hiroshima
Hiroshima was an industrial city with a military base for Japan when it
became the first place to be destroyed by an atomic bomb Aug. 6, 1945. The
History Channel reports the blast killed 80,000 people instantly and 60,000
more died of radiation exposure within a year. As much as 90 percent of the
city was destroyed in the blast. Today, Hiroshima is an industrial center
after being rebuilt in the 1950s.
Nagasaki
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Three days after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, an American plane
dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The city was a shipbuilding center,
key to Japan's navy and shipping industry. It was a key target to destroy
and cripple the Japanese war effort. The high estimate of the death toll was
80,000 and the Japanese surrendered days later.
Sendai Earthquake
The earthquake in 2011 is a natural phenomenon, but the human toll and
aspects of the disaster are man-made. Coastal houses were swept away with
people in them. Four nuclear reactors are suffering from high temperatures
and could melt down completely.
Afterward, evacuations complicated the recovery effort when four nuclear
reactors faced concerns of radiation leakage. As many as 180,000 people had
to be evacuated from surrounding towns near one reactor. Officials told
several hundred thousand more people to stay in their homes and not to come
out as a precaution.
The death toll of the tremor and tsunami is officially at 2,700 with 3,750
missing, according to CNN. There are fears the missing and eventual toll
could rise to above 10,000. As many as 450,000 people are living in
emergency shelters as they try to get some semblance of their lives back.
Damage is estimated to cost $180 billion in order for Japan to rebuild. The
number doesn't take into account the economic effects of rising prices due
to the calamity. In the scope of disasters for Japan, it's not an atomic
bomb being dropped but it may as well be.
Just like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the effects of this disaster in Japan will
be felt for decades to come. Unlike the nuclear holocaust of 65 years ago,
Japan's woes were started by a natural disaster instead of man-made
attrition. |
