Nearly 75 years after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on her hometown, 87-year-old Setsuko Thurlow is still traveling the world to share her story.
Thurlow is a hibakusha — the Japanese word for atomic bomb survivor. She was 13 on Aug. 6, 1945, when she said she experienced a “blinding bluish-white flash,” as the Enola Gay dropped the world's first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan.
“You simply get scorched, incinerated, vaporized,” she said in an interview with WGBH News. “That's what happened to my loved ones.”
For well over 50 years, Thurlow has advocated for the global elimination of nuclear weapons by recounting her story at hospitals, universities, international conferences and in addresses to the United Nations — all to garner public support for disarmament and to urge nations to ban nuclear warheads.
“It's not just abstraction," she said. "It happened, and people are still suffering as a result of that 74 years later."
Thurlow is now part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) — an advocacy group that has been pushing for a global nuclear weapons ban. In 2017, the United Nations adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, an international agreement that bars nuclear activities. But the treaty is not yet enforceable. In order for that to happen, 50 UN members must ratify it. As of today, 33 have done so, and none of the nine nations known to possess nuclear weapons have backed the treaty.
ICAN was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, and Thurlow accepted the award on the campaign’s behalf.
More must be done, Thurlow said, referring to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in North Korea, for example, and the technological advances in weapon development since World War II.
“What I experienced was caused by a very primitive nuclear weapon, but I thought I saw the end of the earth," said Thurlow. "I believe no human being deserves to end life in that fashion.”
» MORE: Listen to Thurlow's lecture at Harvard Law School, recorded by WGBH's Forum Network
