Hypocentre

photo by そらみみ · CC BY-SA 4.0

At 8:15 on 6 August 1945 the bomb exploded 600 m above this spot.

A panel on the wall of Shima Clinic marks the spot directly above which, at 8:15 on 6 August 1945, the Enola Gay detonated the bomb at a height of about 600 metres. About 80 people died in the hospital that stood here at the time; the director, away on a visit, survived. Reviews say that passers-by walk past it without noticing: from a distance nothing marks it out.

The Peace Memorial Museum panel ‘爆心地・島病院（原爆被災説明板）’ marks the hypocentre of the explosion of 6 August 1945, above what was then Shima Hospital (opened on 31 August 1933, now Shima Naika Clinic). The text of the panel says that the bomb, dropped by the B-29 Enola Gay, which had taken off from Tinian, exploded about 600 metres above this spot; on the ground the temperature rose to 3,000–4,000°C and the blast wind blew at about 280 metres per second 100 metres from the hypocentre. About 80 people died in the hospital; the director, absent on a visit elsewhere, survived.

ℹ️ Outdoor panel on a public wall, always visible, with no opening hours or ticket. It is on a side street away from the main avenues of the centre: reviews point out that you walk past it without noticing.

🚉 Hondōri · 5 min walk

Sources: hpmmuseum.jp · city.hiroshima.lg.jp

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