VIENNA - The carnage wrought by the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 60 years ago demonstrates the need to eliminate nuclear weapons for the sake of human survival, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday.
Speaking at an event in Vienna to mark the anniversaries of the bombings, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei said the passage of time should not let the world forget how devastating nuclear weapons are.
"It has always been hoped that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand as constant reminders of why preventing the further use and proliferation of such weapons -- and why nuclear disarmament leading to a nuclear weapon-free world -- is of utmost importance for the survival of humankind and planet Earth," he said.
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese port of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. It was the world's first atomic bombing and killed about 78,000 people instantly.
By the end of 1945, the number of dead had reached about 140,000 out of the city's estimated population of 350,000.
Three days later, a second bomb hit Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War Two.
"We should remain humbled by what we have learned from the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," said ElBaradei, whose agency polices the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the global pact against the spread of nuclear weapons.
The NPT came into force in 1970 and requires the world's then five overt nuclear powers to take steps to disarm. Today, nine countries possess roughly 30,000 nuclear weapons -- enough to destroy the planet many times over.
"A world without nuclear weapons remains a far-off goal," ElBaradei said. "Let us renew today ... the promise to the peoples of the world to spare no effort to work collectively to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons."
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
