South Down MP Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) has joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in Parliament to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
Ms Ritchie has pledged her support to the campaign that calls for the horrors of the event to never be repeated.
[caption id="attachment_57915" align="alignright" width="300"] Hiroshima – 6 August 1945, where the first hydrogen bomb exploded on the city.[/caption] The first use of an atomic bomb in war took place on August 6 1945 when US air forces dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, which killed up to 180,000 people and destroyed 13 square kilometres of the city. A further bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days later and killed between 50,000 and 100,000 people. Ms Ritchie said: “It is very vital that we support the CND in calling for the horrors of Hiroshima never to be repeated. The anniversary of the bombing is an important time to reflect on the human cost of using nuclear weapons.” Kate Hudson, General Secretary of CND said: “We are pleased that Margaret Ritchie MP is joining CND in commemorating the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. The scale of the devastation caused by nuclear weapons, together with the disastrous consequences of radiation on human and all forms of life, make these weapons uniquely terrible and destructive. The world must resolve never to allow the scenes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be repeated.”]]>