Hawke's Bay peace group marks 75th anniversary of Hiroshima

Members of a local peace group at a recent gathering.

Seventy-five years after the violence and devastation caused by the use of nuclear weapons, a local peace group stands in solidarity with a movement to maintain peace and ensure a liveable world.

The group has evolved and changed over the years but has focused on commemorating the anniversary of the United States dropping two devastating nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945.

As history tells it, Hiroshima was immediately flattened. The resulting explosion killed 70,000 people instantly; by December 1945, the death toll had risen to some 140,000, and the impact of the bomb was so terrific that practically all living things were literally seared to death by the tremendous heat and pressure, says peace group member Liz Remmerswaal.

"All the dead and injured were burned beyond recognition. Thousands more died from their injuries, radiation sickness and cancer in the years that followed, bringing the toll closer to 200,000."

Liz says the devastation was unlike anything in the history of warfare, with the most destructive, inhumane and indiscriminate weapons ever created. These days, a single nuclear bomb detonated over a large city could kill millions of people. The use of tens or hundreds of nuclear bombs would disrupt the global climate, causing widespread famine.

"And the danger is greater, with the United States and Russia possessing nearly 14,000 nuclear weapons which are far more powerful than the ones in 1945. The United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea also have weapons."

Three years ago at the United Nations in New York an overwhelming majority of the world's nations adopted a landmark global agreement to ban nuclear weapons, known officially as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Currently 40 of the necessary 50 nations have ratified this treaty, which will enter into legal force once the 50 nations have ratified it.

In the early 1980s Napier's Waiapu Anglican Cathedral formed a Peace/Anti Nuclear Group and the cathedral was declared nuclear free.This group then worked with others to have the city of Napier also declared nuclear free, with great support from the unions and Steiner School staff.

"The library had displays, children made peace doves, and there were regular rallies, most notably the Hiroshima rally in Clive Square where families gather at dusk on Hiroshima day and speeches, prayers and singing took place and little boats floated on the lily pond, lit with candles, as they did in Hiroshima."

More recently the cathedral group morphed into the Environment Justice and Peace (EJP) group which includes other churches and community groups such as World Beyond War. EJP lobbies the council, screens films, holds talks and workshops, and works towards creating a culture of peace and justice.

■ All are welcome at the 75th anniversary Hiroshima Peace event, Sunday, August 9, 12 noon, Clive Square by the Carillon in Napier. There will be music, speakers and Napier mayor Kirsten Wise will plant a tree. If wet, the venue will be Napier Cathedral, where there will be BYO refreshments after.