Hiroshima survivor shares story with Monaco

A rare survivor of the nuclear blast that effectively ended World War II in the Pacific has spoken to a group of mesmerised students and staff members at Lycée Albert I.

Organised by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), The high school’s history and geography class were told the incredible and sad true story of what happened immediately after the event.

Noriko Sakashita was only two years old on 6th August 1945 when her hometown of Hiroshima was almost entirely destroyed by a nuclear weapon dropped by American forces. Her home was located a mere kilometre and a half from the point of impact, and the fact she survived at all is nothing short of miraculous.

She is known as a “Hibakusha”, Japanese for victim of a nuclear attack, and was heavily wounded by the blast, being thrown several metres in the air and suffering cuts on her forehead caused by falling debris. She was later exposed to “black rain” during the evacuation process, the fallout in the aftermath of an atomic explosion where a poisonous mixture of ash and radioactive particles fall to earth.

Ms Sakashita has been travelling on the latest expedition of the Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World’s Peace Boat to raise awareness of the human cost of nuclear weapons and to call for the ratification of the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Following her visit to the school, she was welcomed by HSH Prince Albert II at the Prince’s Palace where she shared her experience with the Sovereign.

Photo: Noriko Sakashita at Lycée Albert I / Communication Department- Michael