Nagasaki marked the 80th anniversary of the United States' atomic attack on the Japanese city with twin cathedral bells ringing for the first time since 1945.
According to Al Jazeera, the twin cathedral bells at Nagasaki’s Immaculate Conception Cathedral were rung for the first time since America’s atomic attack in the city on Saturday, August 9, as the city marked 80 years of the historic devastation.
Thousands of people gathered at the church for the ceremony and bowed their heads in prayers for the victims of the Nagasaki atomic bomb attack, three days after the US nuclear weapon attack on Hiroshima.
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki released dozens of doves as a symbol of peace in a Peace Declaration at a solemn ceremony to mark the event.
Suzuki, whose parents are also atomic attack survivors, warned, “Conflicts around the world are intensifying in a vicious cycle of confrontation and fragmentation. If we continue on this trajectory, we will end up thrusting ourselves into a nuclear war."
“The existential crisis of humanity has become imminent to each and every one of us living on Earth. In order to make Nagasaki the last atomic bombing site now and forever, we will go hand-in-hand with global citizens and devote our utmost efforts toward the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realisation of everlasting world peace,” he added.
Suzuki also called those bombing memories of the city a common heritage that should be passed down for generations.
Around 74,000 people were killed in Nagasaki, while 140,000 lost their lives in Hiroshima after the US dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities.
After nuclear attacks on Japan on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, ending World War II.
