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Issue 54 – October 2015 – QUEEN MARGARET CALLING
Sabrina Kao and Mio Shirataki delivered a moving speech at the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki 70th Anniversary Commemoration.
A Call for Peace
Held at the Peace Flame Garden in Wellington Botanic
Gardens, the commemoration service was a chance to
both reflect on the 70th anniversary of the bombings and
to address the issue of nuclear warfare.
Year 13 students Sabrina and Mio spoke with passion and
conviction about why production and usage of nuclear weapons
should be abolished.
They described the utter destruction of human life and the
environment by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
August 1945.
“To the world, it is an unimaginable scene,” Sabrina said.
“However, this is the harsh reality that took place 70 years ago.”
Mio spoke of the 91.4% of people within the range of the bomb
who were killed even though they were not physically harmed.
“This shows the monstrous strength of nuclear weapons and the
disastrous effects they have.”
The students explained cancer was the most common after effect
of the nuclear bomb.
“Even now, after 70 years, there are people who are still suffering
from the aftermath,” Mio said.
“My mother, who is from Hiroshima, lost her mother at the age
of 10 because of the cancer.”
Despite many people believing the drop was a necessary evil to
end the war, this is not the case, Sabrina commented.
“There should not be joy and celebrations for people or a country
when another country’s people are hurt or sacrificed.”
Sabrina and Mio hoped the Hiroshima and Nagasaki legacy
would remind people of the horrific effects of nuclear warfare.
“Nuclear weapons take many innocent lives instantly,” Mio
commented.
“We hope in the future these weapons will disappear entirely.”
Co-organiser of the event Richard Tingey of New Zealand
Campaign of Nuclear Disarmament (CNDNZ) said it was wonderful
to hear the passion and enthusiasm for total nuclear weapons
disarmament from Sabrina and Mio.
“I felt a sense of deep confidence that New Zealand’s quest for
rapid global nuclear disarmament was in good hands,” he said.