By Javier Picazo Feliú
Madrid, Jan 16 (EFE).- Shigemitsu Tanaka was a four-year-old child playing in the garden of his home in Nagasaki when the second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan on Aug. 9, 1945.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, 80 years later, says that if humanity is to avoid extinction it must destroy these weapons created for the sole purpose of “annihilation.”
Tanaka, aged 84, is not only a survivor of the atomic bomb but also co-chairman of the NGO Nihon Hidankyo, winner of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. He learned about the award during a flight between Tokyo and Nagasaki with other colleagues from the organization.
“I was so happy, and we all high-fived,” he said in an interview with EFE, in which he recounted a life dedicated to honoring the memory of the victims and working for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
“There are 4,000 nuclear bombs ready to be dropped at the push of a button. If dropped, there would be no human beings left on earth. These nuclear weapons will never be able to coexist with humanity as their only purpose is to destroy it. I believe the only way to prevent the extinction of humanity is to eliminate nuclear weapons,” Tanaka said.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner expressed that he can’t believe the way Russia or Israel talk about the possibility of using nuclear weapons against their enemies.
Nuclear bombs “have been modernized and can be used in smaller sizes. Such a crisis is imminent. Russia is using them as tactical weapons in Ukraine and Israel in Gaza,” he said.
“The nuclear powers are obsessed with the theory of nuclear deterrence, that having nuclear weapons will prevent war, which is why there is now a nuclear arms race. There are about 12,300 nuclear weapons in the world,” Tanaka said.
Tanaka lives to perpetuate the memory of the “hibakusha,” atomic bomb survivors in Japan.
“We heard the deafening noise of the bomber, so we turned our heads towards Nagasaki (about six kilometers/three miles from his home) and saw a bright white flash. It was the explosion of the atomic bomb. A few seconds later, we heard the explosion and the bang, and when the blast hit the house, all the glass shattered, and the sliding doors blew off,” he recalled.
The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, brought the Second World War to an end. In Hiroshima, an estimated 80,000 people were killed on the spot, while in Nagasaki, around 40,000 people were killed, the vast majority of them civilians.
By late 1945, however, the death toll from injuries and illnesses caused by the blast and high levels of radiation had risen to around 140,000 people and is thought to have exceeded 200,000 in the years that followed.
“People should not live with nuclear weapons. They are used to kill and destroy,” said Tanaka.
His fight continues to persuade countries such as Japan and Spain to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which will come into force in 2021 and has been signed by more than 50 countries.
As part of his trip to Spain to promote the Nobel Peace Prize, Tanaka will visit the Congress of Deputies in Madrid before going to Zaragoza and Barcelona to meet with authorities and students on a tour to raise awareness of the need to eradicate nuclear weapons. EFE
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