~Three Energies of Atomic Bomb: No3.Blasts~"75 Years Atomic Bomb"Dr.Soko DAY8/50

~The Blast Wave~

The shock wave smashed the house in an instant.
The effect of heat rays weakened in about 3 seconds, but at that moment, the houses collapsed instantly.

At the hypocenter, a shock wave came from almost directly above, and a little away from the hypocenter, a shock wave smashed houses from diagonally above. Houses were crashed between the grounds and blasts.

The blast reached 1.5 kilometers away in 3 seconds, and 4 kilometers away in 10.1 seconds, the houses collapsed and the people were under the debris. At the Hiroshima Local Meteorological Observatory, 3.7 kilometers away from the hypocenter, they observed a wind speed of 200 meters a second.

In addition, some people said that the blast came not as once but as a reverse blast of blowing back and it looked like a tornado or a gust.          Many testimony remains that it was repeatedly attacked by a strong wind. 

Secondary Disaster with fragments of glass

〜Glass becomes myriad blades〜

When talking about the effects of the blast, we need to be aware of the fact that glass is life threatening.

The blast instantly blows off the glass window. There are many testimonies that when people noticed, fragments of glass stuck into their body like a knife. Many people walked with small debris stuck to one side of the body.

The shoeless victim had to walk barefoot over the glass shards and run away. It cannot be underestimated that such broken glass afflicted the victims. It can be said that it is a secondary disaster caused by glass.

The wound with the glass becomes also fatal for the atomic bomb survivors with the immune system weaken.

As same as burns, when a wound is infected, it produces pus, and when bacteria spread throughout the body, it causes sepsis and death.

As same as burns, but if the fly lays eggs in the wound, maggots will live there.　That commonly happened.

Glass stuck into the body is difficult to remove with bare hands. Even if you try to pinch it with something like pliers, it will break into pieces.

A sharp piece of glass remained buried in the body, deepened the scratches. Many people suffered from such pains.

"Always Prepare Shoes"

My aunt Nobuko often says so.

"Don't take the damage of glass lightly.
Get extra shoes for an unexpected disaster such as bombs, typhoons, fires, earthquakes, whatever. Whenever you evacuate, you have to step on the glass with your foot. Shoes are important because the pain of the scratches on the glass can make people unable to walk. The pain with glass wounds make your motivation weaken to run away. 

Shoes are important to live."

Hope new technology produce new glass, from the view of disaster.

Glass is an integral part of a building. Bright and transparent windows are important. However, we likely forget that glass change to be dangerous  in an event of disaster. Of course, I don't want to expect the damage of nuclear weapons again, but even in a case of  a typhoon or an earthquake, we may have to walk on fragments of glass. But if we remind of the importance of having extra shoes,  it can be possible to prevent  a secondary disaster.

I sincerely hope that in the future new glass will be developed, which will not pierce even if it breaks, yet is durable as a building material.