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How did the atomic bombs damage hospitals and emergency services in Hiroshima?
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atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A gigantic mushroom cloud rising above Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, after a U.S. aircraft dropped an atomic bomb on the city, immediately killing more than 70,000 people.
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima caused catastrophic damage to the city's emergency infrastructure, rendering organized defense efforts nearly impossible. The impact on hospitals and emergency services was total:
- Firefighting: The blast destroyed 26 of the city’s 33 modern firefighting stations, resulting in the death or severe injury of three-fourths of all firefighting personnel.1
- Medical Facilities: Every hospital in the city was either destroyed or severely damaged, with the exception of only one.1
- Medical Personnel: The workforce was decimated; of 298 registered physicians, only 30 remained uninjured and capable of providing care. Additionally, more than 1,800 of the city’s 2,400 nurses and orderlies were killed or seriously injured.1
- Utilities: Essential services, including electric power plants, railroads, telephones, and telegraph lines, were completely put out of commission.1
This widespread destruction of critical infrastructure left the city unable to mount an effective emergency response in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.1