Nobel Prize, Physics, 2024, Nobel Prize-2024, John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton, Nobel, Swedish Academy, Nobel Prize Peace, Japan, Bomb, Survivors, War

Nihon Hidankyo, The Japanese organization comprising of members of A-bomb survivors of  Hiroshima and Nagasaki were honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize 2024 for “its efforts to make the world free of nuclear weapons and demonstrate this through witness testimony that insists nuclear weapons must never be used again”.

In August 1945, The United States dropped two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities -Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bomb killed approximately 120,000 people and nearly the same number of people died due to radiation and burn injuries. The survivors of the bomb were estimated to be 650,000  known as Hibakusha in Japanese. The devastation of the two cities not only caused massive killings but created a disastrous
condition to live in and left an emotional and mental scar in the minds of the victim’s families and survivors.

 


 

In August 1956, victims who survived the atomic bomb catastrophe formed the nationwide organization “Japan Confederation of A and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations” (Hidankyo). The organization has two main objectives firstly to help improve the social and economic condition of all Hibakusha living inside and outside Japan, by the enactment of laws that aid them such as state compensations, medical care, counselling, etc. The second is to prevent nuclear war and ban nuclear weapons completely so that there will be “No more Hibakusha”.

Nihan Hindanyko carried out extensive work towards the elimination of nuclear weapons by sharing stories of their experiences, damage, and aftermath of the bombing, sending A-bomb survivors to the UN and other regions of the world  to develop future peace workers so that they
understand the consequences of using nuclear weapons.

The organization has all official members as Hibakusha,  with an average age of 83 these Hibakusha are still determined to work towards saving humanity from the crisis that can arise from the usage of Nuclear weapons through the lessons learned from the past and
experiences they have.