That's what it's about

• Exactly 80 years ago, a nuclear weapon was used in war for the first time.
• The explosion of the Little Boy bomb in Hiroshima killed well over 100,000 people and sealed Japan's defeat.
• A few days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Since then, no more has been used.

In Japan, people commemorated the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the United States. A minute of silence was observed on Wednesday at 8:15 a.m. local time, or 1:15 a.m. Central European Time. Hundreds of officials, students, and survivors dressed in black laid flowers at the Peace Memorial. The destroyed domed building commemorates the devastating use of the atomic bomb 80 years ago.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui warned in his address against accelerating global military buildup. These developments blatantly disregard the lessons the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history, Matsui said. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba declared that it is Japan's responsibility to take the lead on the path to a world without nuclear weapons.

Last year, the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

An entire city destroyed in one second

At 8:15 a.m. on the morning of August 6, 1945, a U.S. Army B-29 bomber dropped a uranium-based bomb, dubbed Little Boy, from an altitude of 9,450 meters over Hiroshima. The bomb exploded at an altitude of 580 meters above the ground. Within one second, the blast wave completely destroyed 80 percent of the city center. The ensuing firestorm devastated 11 square kilometers of the city and propelled the characteristic mushroom cloud to an altitude of 13 kilometers.

Paul W. Tibbets, the commander and pilot of the bomber known as the Enola Gay, who sat with his back to the explosion, later reported seeing the sky light up in front of him and tasting lead in his mouth.

Hibakusha still suffer today

Immediately afterward and in the first months following the attack, approximately 140,000 people died. Three days later, another US atomic bomb, the plutonium-based Fat Man, killed approximately 74,000 people in the city of Nagasaki. The victims, known in Japan as hibakusha, continue to suffer from the effects of radiation exposure to this day.

Take Kunihiko Iida, for example, who, despite numerous health problems, dedicated himself to a mission. The 83-year-old is a volunteer tour guide in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park. He tells his story to visitors to promote nuclear disarmament. When the US dropped its bomb on Hiroshima, Iida was 900 meters from the so-called hypocenter in the house where his mother grew up. He was only three years old, but remembers the intensity of the explosion—it was as if he had been thrown from a building.

The boy found himself trapped under rubble, alone, and bleeding all over from the broken glass."Mommy, help!" he tried to scream, but his voice failed him. He was eventually rescued by his grandfather. Within a month, his 25-year-old mother and four-year-old sister died after complaining of nosebleeds, skin problems, and exhaustion. Iida himself suffered similar effects of radiation throughout his elementary school years, but gradually regained his health.

Representatives from over 120 countries on site

According to the city administration, representatives from 120 countries and regions, including the EU, are participating in this year's commemoration ceremony in Hiroshima. Nuclear powers such as Russia, China, and Pakistan are not present, but Iran, which is accused of developing an atomic bomb, is.