After the Bomb

This is a picture of Hiroshima after the bomb (click to enlarge). The bombing was, I believe, on August 6, 1945. I think this picture was taken in October. [WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT] It's amazing that anyone survived this, but many did - though not so close to the hypocenter, around where this photo was taken. Some were incinerated, leaving black silhouettes on the ground. Some had skin melted and hanging off their bodies. Many had third-degree burns all over. Some survived the initial bombing but died in the fires that followed, trapped in collasped buildings. The most awful were the ones who survived both the bomb and the fires only to succumb to acute radiation sickness in the months that followed - blood vessels bursting under the skin, sores in the mouth... The museum told the story of two siblings with radiation poisoning. The younger, a boy, died after several agonizing weeks, during which his mother said he vomited what looked like parts of his internal organs. The older, a girl, survived, but endured considerable suffering of her own, including a throat swollen nearly shut with a massive blister filled with blood and pus. She began to get better when that burst and is alive today, though she's struggled with cancer on more than one occasion.