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96 volumes of register for A-bomb victims aired

by Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writer

On May 21, the register for the A-bomb victims, which is stored in the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, was given an "airing" at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park during which the volumes of the register were exposed to the air to prevent deterioration.

Ninety-five volumes of the register, containing the names of 263,945 people who were exposed to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, were removed from a stone chest under the cenotaph for the first time since last year and placed in rows in front of the monument. In addition, a volume with the names of four victims of the Nagasaki atomic bombing that was dedicated to the cenotaph last summer at the request of family members, marking the first volume of names of A-bomb victims in Nagasaki, also lay under the sun of early summer.

Eighteen city employees and others offered a silent prayer at 8:15 a.m., the time the atomic bomb was dropped. They kneeled on a piece of white cloth and spent about two hours carefully turning the pages of these volumes one by one and checking them for damage. No serious damage has been reported.

From the middle of June, the City of Hiroshima will add, to this register, the names of A-bomb victims who passed away or whose deaths were newly confirmed since August of last year and dedicate the register to the cenotaph during the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony this August 6.

(Originally published on May 24, 2010)

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