No More Paper Storks to Scatter…
She knew, perhaps, the paper storks she was making would end
up in vain.
Yet, she continued, till she died.
She was Sadako, a victim of the nuclear explosion on Hiroshima.
In Japan, storks were considered sacred birds. They had a belief
that those who made thousand paper storks would live long. So Sadako went on
making the storks even in her death bed. But neither the belief nor the paper
storks could save her. Sadako was only two years when Hiroshima was gulped by
the atomic flames. Her house was only a few kilometers away from the place
where the atomic bomb was dropped. Though she could survive, she was diagnosed
as a blood cancer patient years later and died in 1955. A monument for peace
was built in her name by her school mates after three years of her death.
It was on 6 August in 1945 that the United State s dropped the
first atomic bomb, named ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima killing about 70000 people
within seconds. Thousands were deadly burned. Most of the survivors also died
later due to the radiation.
It took years to realise
the fatal consequences of the atomic bomb. The emission of the Alfa, Beta and
Gama rays during the explosion affected badly even the next generation of the
Hiroshima people. Mental retardation, genetic disorders and fatal diseases like
cancer were among the outcome of the calamity. After 66 years of the nuclear
attack, the people of Hiroshima still suffer the effect of the nuclear bombing.
By this time Hiroshima might have had many Sadakos and
thousands of paper storks scattered around them.
Let’s only hope that there will not be any Hiroshimas or little
Sadakos to mould the paper storks anymore…
