ブックタイトルeigo13

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eigo13

Misery Beyond Description（限りなき悲惨事）（261）Otowa Tokuo（大東和徳雄）We’ve never been exposed to such horrible natural disasters asearthquakes or floods in Hiroshima’s history, but unfortunately we wereattacked by an artificial disaster－the first radiation exposure in the historyof mankind. That day, I was in a small town a short distance away fromHiroshima City on business so I escaped the direct atomic-bomb burst.Hearing the sudden, unexpected news, I rushed back to Hiroshima about 4p.m. and went up to Hijiyama to see the extent of the situation. To my greatsurprise, the whole city was completely destroyed, burnt down for as far as Icould see and many places were still on fire. The refuges were all black fromthe blast and the flames and burnt corpses were heaped here and there. Icouldn’t bear the hellish sight. My house in Minami-Kannon didn’t catch fire,but all the roof tiles , doors, and windows were blown off by the atomic?bombblast. My wife was lying among broken pieces of glass, half unconscious in adaze.My first son was out, at Kakomachi as a student?worker. Having littlehope of his safety, I went out with an Obi (a kind of belt to carry him on myback). I saw nothing but dead students everywhere. There wasn’t even aplace to stand. The students were dead with indignation, leaning againsttheir teacher, embracing one another, looking up at the sky. It was difficult todistinguish boys from girls. I couldn’t find my son. Soon the troops and thecivic defense parties began to work. The Red Cross Hospital escaped fire inspite of tremendous damage. Everywhere from the gate, there lay numerousvictims. All along the street car railway from Funairi to Eba, there stood atemporary first?aid station surrounded by wooden boards, which was filledwith the injured victims who couldn’t walk. All roads were full of dead peopleor horses.After that, scorching hot days continued. The strong smell of thedecomposed bodies spread all around. They poured oil over the dead bodiesand burnt them, poking with iron bars under the flaming sun. That was like“Hell on Earth”. At the Eba shooting place, they put dead bodies on wood,in turns in a big pile. Some families insisted their missing family membersmust be in that pile, but they hesitated, wondering how to do it with a greatsigh. They were eager to find them by every conceivable means. That’s whatis called ‘the love of family’. The sun was about to set in the west.One of my friends said his family were buried under a collapsed house,shouting for help repeatedly, but he had no way to leave the scene and findhelp, so folding his hands together, he begged them for forgiveness. Theircries for help still remain ringing in his ears.Then we ate just a little rice, putting some salt on it. We had no otherdishes served with rice. We repaired broken roofs, doors and windows by