Oslo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Terumi Tanaka, 92, a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bomb and a founder of Nihon Hidankyo, the association of victims of the atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Japan, spoke at the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony today, in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

From this venue, on behalf of the 30-member delegation, including 17 direct witnesses of that tragedy who came from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to collect the prize awarded to the association, he issued an appeal: “[W]e must not allow the possession of a single nuclear weapon.”

Tanaka, who was 13 years old on 9 August 1945, saw with his own eyes the death and devastation from that type of weapon. He described what he went through that day: the great glow, the wave of the explosion, the torched houses, Urakami cathedral ("the largest red-brick church in the East") razed to the ground, the agony of seeing the bodies of two aunts and their families who lived 400 metres from the hypocentre.

“The deaths I witnessed at that time could hardly be described as human deaths,” he explained. “There were hundreds of people suffering in agony, unable to receive any kind of medical attention. I strongly felt that even in war, such killing and maiming must never be allowed to happen.”

His testimony at the Nobel ceremony is not just a story from 80 years ago, but is also relevant for today's news. “[T]here still remain 12,000 nuclear warheads on the Earth today, 4,000 of which are operationally deployed, ready for immediate launch,” he noted.

One “nuclear superpower, Russia, threatens to use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine, and a cabinet member of Israel, in the midst of its unrelenting attacks on Gaza in Palestine, even spoke of the possible use of nuclear arms. In addition to the civilian casualties, I am infinitely saddened and angered that the ‘nuclear taboo’ threatens to be broken.”

Terumi Tanaka mentioned the joy with which the Hibakusha – the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who were relegated to silence for far too long – welcomed the approval at the UN of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted with the support of 122 countries.

“It is the heartfelt desire of the Hibakusha that, rather than depending on the theory of nuclear deterrence, which assumes the possession and use of nuclear weapons, we must not allow the possession of a single nuclear weapon.

“Please try to imagine — there are 4,000 nuclear warheads, ready to be launched immediately. This means that damage hundreds or thousands of times greater than that which happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki could happen right away,” he explained.

“Any one of you could become either a victim or a perpetrator, at any time. I therefore plead for everyone around the world to discuss together what we must do to eliminate nuclear weapons, and demand action from governments to achieve this goal.”

As the representative of Nihon Hidankyo, he reminded his audience that the average age of survivors of the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is now 85 years.

“Ten years from now, there may only be a handful of us able to give testimony as firsthand survivors. From now on, I hope that the next generation will find ways to build on our efforts and develop the movement even further.”

This is orientation of No More Hibakusha Project-Inheriting Memories of the A and H-Bomb Sufferers, a digital archive initiative that is collecting the testimonies of those who are still alive.

“I urge everyone around the world to create opportunities in your own countries to listen to the testimonies of A-bomb survivors, and to feel, with deep sensitivity, the true inhumanity of nuclear weapons.

“Particularly, I hope that the belief that nuclear weapons cannot — and must not — coexist with humanity will take firm hold among citizens of the nuclear weapon states and their allies, and that this will become a force for change in the nuclear policies of their governments.

“Let not humanity destroy itself with nuclear weapons!

“Let us work together for a human society, in a world free of nuclear weapons and of wars!”  Prime Asia News