ntless precious lives and inflicting devastation on all city functions. Anyone within a mile of the explosion from the atom bomb became a bundle of smoking black charcoal within seconds. The intense heat that came together with the explosion caused houses and all combustible material in the downtown area to spontaneously combust. As the downtown area erupted in huge fires after the explosion, intense firestorms and whirlwinds developed. After 20-30 minutes, radioactive debris was deposited by "Black Rain" (which was oily and sticky) that fell heavily for over an hour over a wide area. Large amounts of fallout, referred to as "Ashes of Death" were contained in the rain in the form of radioactive soot and dust and caused contamination even in areas remote from the hypocenter. All the ruins of the fires were melted together like lava and distorted due to intense heat. Furthermore, the large amount of radiation that instantly descended upon the Earth penetrated deeply into people's bodies, destroying cells. At that time, there were fluctuations in Hiroshima's population due to the presence of military personnel and evacuations, but it is believed that approximately 280,000-300,000 civilians lived in the city and approximately 40,000 military personnel were stationed there. Three days later, at 11:02 A.M. on August 9, an even more powerful atomic bomb "Fat Boy" (made of plutonium) was unleashed on the city of Nagasaki. Though the amount of energy generated by the bomb dropped in Nagasaki was significantly larger than that of the Little Boy, the damage given to the city was slighter than that given to Hiroshima due to the geographic structure of the city. Radiation resulting from the atomic bomb explosion is roughly classified into two categories: initial radiation which was released within the first minute following the explosion, and residual which was released afterwards for a certain period. This large amount of radi...
