(July 23, '97)

A detailed report on the damage and casualties of people lived in a lost town called "Sarugaku-Cho, Hiroshima", only the A-bomb Dome survived, was summarized on July 22, by the hands of related people after 52 years. c It is confirmed that the number of deaths by the A-bombing were 91 people by the end of December 1945. 78 people were killed immediately. On the other hand, they discovered that 86 people out of 45 households have survived in addition to valuable pictures, which show how the street looked before the bombing.

On the map, Sarugaku-Cho applies to Street number 1 Oute-machi and 2 Kamiya-Cho in Naka-Ku, which is the center of Hiroshima with a population of one million today.

The majority of the civilians killed by the bomb were head of households, their wives and children who were too young to evacuate to the countryside. At the time of the bombing, parents were mobilized to help with demolition of houses in the center of the city, Zakoba- Cho (1.1 km from the hypocenter); therefore many of their remains are missing.

The biggest loss among per households is 7 people. They seem to have been killed at the table, while having breakfast. As the vagueness of damage became clear.

Locations, names and ages of the victims at the time of the bombing, were in many cases, described differently from the survey of the Hiroshima City, which laid basis to "The list of the A-bomb Victims". This fact indicates the whole picture of damage is not clear yet.

Most of the bereaved families were bombed while mobilized in the city to help demolish houses, entering the city from the suburbs such as Asaminami-Ward, at the time of the bombing. The eldest of the survivors is 100 years old and the youngest is 51 years old, born about 4 months after the father's death in bombing.

An excavation of the record of damage came about, when Mr. Eiichi Ise who lives near the A-bomb Dome, asked around the people, "Let's restore the town with our hands to mourn for the victims. We can tell the real state of damage to a new generation by doing so."

The Chugoku Shimbun had supported the project from last spring, by collecting personal evidence and testimonies in association with living bereaved families.

The identification work of unknown damage led to an excavation of the valuable pictures, which describes the town before the bombing. It was found in the house of the bereaved family. The pictures have never been shown in the documentary publications edited by the Hiroshima City.