The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Atom bomb survivors narrate tales of horror

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Tuesday, Sep 30, 2008
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Atom bomb survivors narrate tales of horror

K.S. Sudhi

The Peace Boat, carrying 102 survivors, has called at Kochi.

KOCHI: “Every day, after August 6, the day of the bombing, I checked every inch of my body for purple spots. We were told that the spots were the beginning of the dying process,” recounts Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing.

Ms. Thurlow was one of the 102 Hibakushas, Japanese for atom bomb survivors, who reached Kochi on Monday as part of a global voyage for a nuclear-free world, organised by Peace Boat, a non-governmental organisation. This was the 63rd global voyage of the boat.

Ms. Thurlow was 13 when the atom bomb Little Boy changed the history of the world forever.

“I could see a bluish white flash through the window of the military building in which I was standing. Then I was thrown into the air. When I came back to my senses, I was under the debris of the building,” she recounted.

The military building was 1.8 km from the hypocentre and it caught fire in the explosion.

“I found myself in total silence and darkness. Though I tried to move my body, I couldn’t. Later, a solider pulled me out of the debris and showed me the way out of the building.” said Ms. Thurlow in an emotionally charged voice.

She lost her sister and her son four days after the fateful day. Only three of the 30 girls who were in the military building with her at that time survived, she said.

The Hibakushas shared their experiences with people in Kochi at a meeting held in the afternoon.

The average age of the Hibakushas is 75 and time is limited for them to give direct testimonies. They are also concerned about the nuclear cooperation between India and the U.S., said Akira Kawasaki, executive of the Peace Boat.

The survivors brought a peace monument made out of the weapons collected from child soldiers to be erected in Nehru Park in West Kochi. The city signed a peace declaration as part of the campaign.

Clipper Pacific, the Peace Boat, left Yokohama, Japan, for its 63rd global voyage for peace on September 7. She will spend 103 days travelling around the world. The vessel came to Kochi from Singapore. From here, she will travel to Eritrea. After visiting various ports in Asia and Africa, she will pass through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and will call at the Italian city of Palermo.

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