Hiroshima and Nagasaki Death Toll

The mortality was greater in Hiroshima because the city was located in a flat delta, in contrast to Nagaskis Urakami Valley. The Nagasaki-Urakami is enclosed by mountain ridges that shielded the city. Nevertheless, the instant lethal effect revealed consideration of the use of these annhilative weapons in warfare can be tolerated by man now that nukes of far greater destructive power are now available.

The real mortality of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan will never be known. The destruction and overwhelming chaos made orderly counting impossible. It is not unlikely that the estimates of killed and wounded in Hiroshima (150,000) and Nagasaki (75,000) are over conservative.

At no time during the period between 1943 and 1946 were facilities allotted, or time provided, for the Medical Section of the Manhattan Engineer District to prepare a comprehensive history of its activities. Regulations forbade notetaking. Official records were scanty. There were few charts and photographs.

Atomic attack death toll.

From their own observations and from testimony of Japanese, members of the survey team divided the morbidity and mortality of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan into the following phases: