Nagasaki bombing anniversary: Japan and the world remember the last use of nuclear weapons in war 70 years on
Japan on Sunday marked the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki that claimed tens of thousands of lives in one of the final chapters of World War II.
Timeline of Atomic Bombings
- September 1, 1939: World War II begins
- December 7, 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, US enters WWII
- August 13, 1942: The Manhattan Project officially starts
- July 16, 1945: The Trinity Test (first nuclear bomb test) is done
- August 6, 1945: Bombing of Hiroshima
- August 9, 1945: Bombing of Nagasaki
- August 12, 1945: United States contacts Japan to accept surrender
- August 15, 1945: Japan announces surrender on radio
- September 2, 1945: World War II officially ends
Bells tolled as ageing survivors, the relatives of victims and others remembered the devastating blast at 11:02am local time (12:02pm AEST) on August 9, 1945.
About 74,000 people died in the initial blast from a plutonium bomb dubbed "Fat Man", or from after-effects in the months and years following the bombing.
The attack on Nagasaki came three days after American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped a bomb dubbed "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, the first atomic bombing in history.
Nearly everything around it was incinerated by a wall of heat up to 4,000 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt steel.
The twin bombings dealt the final blows to imperial Japan, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War II.
At memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima on Thursday, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would submit a fresh resolution to abolish nuclear weapons at the UN general assembly later this year.
"As the only country ever attacked by an atomic bomb ... we have a mission to create a world without nuclear arms
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