A forum on nuclear disarmament was held Wednesday at the University of Oslo in Norway in honor of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Japan’s atomic bomb survivors’ group, Nihon Hidankyo.
Two hibakusha from the bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki joined past peace prize recipients in the panel discussion, speaking about their experiences of the bombing and calling on everyone to work to create a world without nukes.
In the forum, titled “Nukes — How to counter the threat,” Keiko Ogura, 87, an interpreter from Hiroshima, and Masao Tomonaga, 81, honorary head of Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Genbaku Hospital, spoke as representatives of hibakusha. Ogura has continued to testify in English about her experience of the atomic bombing, while Tomonaga has been involved in medical care for hibakusha as a doctor for many years.
Ogura recounted that when the bomb destroyed houses, her surroundings were dark, and she could not hear anything. Survivors of the bombing died when they drank water, she said, adding that she kept blaming herself for their deaths.
“Before I die, (I) want to see this planet without any nuclear weapons,” she said. “We can make it.”
Tomonaga talked about his experience of the bombing when he was 2 years old and said that people “should recognize their responsibility to (realize a) nuclear-free world.”
The forum was attended by representatives of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize; the International Atomic Energy Agency, which won the award in 2005; and the 1995 winner, the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Panelists exchanged views on strategies to mitigate the risk of nuclear war and promote nuclear disarmament.