The consequences of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are a combination of immediate death from the explosion and tortuous death from radiation sickness in the following days, weeks, and months. The victims went through several stages of suffering, and the testimonies of the survivors and those who rushed to help paint a picture that they themselves call hell. Instant death and the first hours In the epicenter of the explosion, people evaporated — only dark silhouettes remained on the walls or shadows on the stones. The temperature at the point of explosion reached millions of degrees. Those who were within a few hundred meters of the epicenter but not in it received lethal burns — the skin burned or peeled off in strips. Many died in the first minutes and hours from mechanical injuries — they were crushed by debris from buildings that collapsed from the blast wave. Acute radiation sickness: the first days and weeks Those who survived the explosion but received a high dose of radiation began to suffer from acute radiation sickness. Symptoms appeared in a certain sequence. Period Symptoms Causes First minutes Evaporation, instant death, severe burns Temperature, blast wave First hours and days Nausea, vomiting, weakness, diarrhea Acute radiation sickness 1-2 weeks Hair loss, hemorrhages, bleeding Destruction of the bone marrow 2-4 weeks Infections, sepsis, organ failure Compromised immune system, polyorgan insufficiency Years after ... Read more