Hiroshima Bombing Effects

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After the bombing Hiroshima was in ruins, barriers had been knocked away, utility poles stood at odd angles, and landmarks were gone or unrecognizable. Buildings had suffered significant damage, most pushed off their foundations. Cemeteries were uprooted, and churches had become rubble. In the late 1950’s, psychologists in Hiroshima and Nagasaki reported increased complaints among survivors of neurotic symptoms, like fatigue, amnesia, and lack of concentration. Other symptoms included PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) which caused nightmares, flashbacks , concentrating, depression, and suicidal thoughts. The survivors , known as Hibakusha, sought relief from their injuries, but however, 90 percent of all medical personnel were killed or disabled, and the remaining medical supplies quickly ran out. Many survivors began to notice the effects of the exposure to the bombs radiation. Their symptoms ranged from nausea, bleeding, and losing of the hair, to death. Some of the harsh effects of the radiation on babies was, cancer (especially leukemia and lymphoma), small brain size, mental retardation, lower IQ, delayed development, blindness and a chronic birth defect in which the babies spinal cord does not develop correctly, called spinal bifida. …show more content…

Studies of children born to mothers who received whole-body radiation between 50 and 100 radiation following the Japanese atomic bombings showed that children had and increased risk for small brain size and mental retardation. This was especially true for those women who were eight to fifteen weeks pregnant are the time of exposure. Those children that were exposed to radiation compared to those that were not exposed, is that they had lower intelligence test scores and performed at a lower level. Estimates state that up to 200,000 had died by 1950, due to cancer and other long-term effects

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