More Than 300,000
Still Suffer From A-Bomb Attack
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 (Bernama) -- After 62 years, about 300,000 people are still suffering from the effects of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan during the Second World War, an anti-nuclear activist revealed, here Tuesday.
"These people are suffering from severe health problems, a result of the radiation from the A-bombs dropped by the United States," said Dr Shoji Sawada, who himself is a Hiroshima survivor and eyewitness of radiation exposure.
He said many survivors of the atomic bombing had been continuously suffering from diseases or ailments like epilation, purpura and diarrhoea from the day the bombs were dropped.
"The chronic radiation disease, such as leukaemia, various kinds of cancer and cataract appeared several years after the bombing among the survivors. Most of the symptoms of the chronic diseases cannot be specified from other origins but radiation," he said.
He made this revelation in his talk at the three-day War Crimes Conference, organised by the Perdana Global Peace Organisation headed by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The conference entered its second day at the Putra World Trade Centre.
Dr Sawada clearly remembered the day the bomb came falling as "I was 13 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on 6th August, 1945".
"I was sick on that day. At the moment of the bombing I was sleeping at home, about 1,400m from ground zero. Therefore, I did not see the flash of the heat rays nor feel the shock wave of the blast. Everything happened instantaneously.
"When I came to my senses, I found that I was trapped under my crushed house, I struggled and wiggled and at last I was able to crawl out of the piles of broken wood and plaster. At that moment, I was shocked to find that the whole city of Hiroshima was flattened as far as I could see," he said, sharing his nightmare.
Immediately, he said he heard his mother's voice calling his name and that voice came from just under his feet. He tried to pull away beams and pillars which caught his mother's legs but it was far beyond his ability.
"I called out in vain to adults for help, but those wounded could do nothing more than find a safe place for themselves. Then, a fire had spread gradually. When I told my mother of the approaching fire, she asked me to survive and advised me to become a good person by studying well," he said, adding that he lost his mother in the blaze.
Dr Sawada said the Japanese government had provided special medical and livelihood assistance to survivors of the atomic bomb radiation. However, the criteria adopted by the sub-committee of Atomic Bomb Survivors Medical Care of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare were very strict, thus making it hard for the people to seek medical aid.
Currently he is studying the after-effects of the atomic bomb on the human body in relation to a collective lawsuit and analysed incidences of acute radiation disease.
"I found that the studies concerning the effects of atomic radiation supported by the US government have completely ignored the effects of residual radiation caused by the fallout and induced radioactive matters," he said.
BERNAMA - http://www.bernama.com
Still Suffer From A-Bomb Attack
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 (Bernama) -- After 62 years, about 300,000 people are still suffering from the effects of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan during the Second World War, an anti-nuclear activist revealed, here Tuesday.
"These people are suffering from severe health problems, a result of the radiation from the A-bombs dropped by the United States," said Dr Shoji Sawada, who himself is a Hiroshima survivor and eyewitness of radiation exposure.
He said many survivors of the atomic bombing had been continuously suffering from diseases or ailments like epilation, purpura and diarrhoea from the day the bombs were dropped.
"The chronic radiation disease, such as leukaemia, various kinds of cancer and cataract appeared several years after the bombing among the survivors. Most of the symptoms of the chronic diseases cannot be specified from other origins but radiation," he said.
He made this revelation in his talk at the three-day War Crimes Conference, organised by the Perdana Global Peace Organisation headed by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The conference entered its second day at the Putra World Trade Centre.
Dr Sawada clearly remembered the day the bomb came falling as "I was 13 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on 6th August, 1945".
"I was sick on that day. At the moment of the bombing I was sleeping at home, about 1,400m from ground zero. Therefore, I did not see the flash of the heat rays nor feel the shock wave of the blast. Everything happened instantaneously.
"When I came to my senses, I found that I was trapped under my crushed house, I struggled and wiggled and at last I was able to crawl out of the piles of broken wood and plaster. At that moment, I was shocked to find that the whole city of Hiroshima was flattened as far as I could see," he said, sharing his nightmare.
Immediately, he said he heard his mother's voice calling his name and that voice came from just under his feet. He tried to pull away beams and pillars which caught his mother's legs but it was far beyond his ability.
"I called out in vain to adults for help, but those wounded could do nothing more than find a safe place for themselves. Then, a fire had spread gradually. When I told my mother of the approaching fire, she asked me to survive and advised me to become a good person by studying well," he said, adding that he lost his mother in the blaze.
Dr Sawada said the Japanese government had provided special medical and livelihood assistance to survivors of the atomic bomb radiation. However, the criteria adopted by the sub-committee of Atomic Bomb Survivors Medical Care of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare were very strict, thus making it hard for the people to seek medical aid.
Currently he is studying the after-effects of the atomic bomb on the human body in relation to a collective lawsuit and analysed incidences of acute radiation disease.
"I found that the studies concerning the effects of atomic radiation supported by the US government have completely ignored the effects of residual radiation caused by the fallout and induced radioactive matters," he said.
BERNAMA - http://www.bernama.com
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