“The Hibakusha assist us in articulating the unexplainable, contemplating the inconceivable, and somehow understanding the unfathomable agony and distress inflicted by nuclear weapons,” the committee stated, revealing its decision in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on Friday.
Dan Smith, the leader of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), informed CNN he was “thrilled” that the Hibakusha had received this year’s award.
“As the Soviet and US leaders Gorbachev and Reagan proclaimed in 1985, nuclear war can never be prevailed and must never be engaged. The Hibakusha continually remind us of that,” Smith expressed.
“The bomb on Nagasaki marked the second occasion a nuclear weapon was deployed in warfare: Let it be the final one! ”
Approximately 80,000 individuals perished instantly when the United States released the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. As he observed the mushroom cloud ascend into the atmosphere, Robert Lewis – co-pilot of the Enola Gay, which deployed the bomb – allegedly stated: “My God, what have we done? ”
Three days later, the US unleashed a second bomb on Nagasaki, resulting in the deaths of about 70,000 people. In the subsequent years, tens of thousands lost their lives in both cities due to the radiation from the explosion.
