Special Exhibit
Conditions in Relief Stations and
the Suffering of the People

To accommodate so many injured,
relief stations were set up throughout the city and the prefecture.
However, these relief stations lacked beds and medical supplies and could not offer satisfactory treatment.
Their unhygienic conditions were attested to by swarms of flies and mosquitoes.
Soon, maggots were crawling in the victims' wounds.
In addition to burns, bruises and lacerations, radiation from the bomb caused new forms of grave damage.
With no treatment available, the victims died one after the next.
Day after day around relief stations, smoke from cremation fires rose.
Still, the injured kept arriving in an unending stream.
Those caring for them had no time to rest.
Eventually, those caregivers also collapsed from fatigue or exposure to residual radiation.


The injured packed in tightly Victims in pain
46
The injured packed in tightly
August, 1945
/ First Elementary School Dambara-yamasaki-cho (2,600m from the hypocenter)

The injured were carried to relief stations one after the next. They were laid in rows with little or no space between them. Most relief stations had no beds. They put down straw mats and tatami and laid the people on them.
47
Victims in pain
August, 1945
/ First Elementary School Dambara-yamasaki-cho (2,600m from the hypocenter)

Most of the injured were suffering from terrible burns and lacerations. Reserves of medical supplies and hygiene agents were quickly exhausted, and first aid degenerated to applying Mercurochrome or cooking oil.
Treatment without end Those who desperately continued giving care
48
Treatment without end
August, 1945
/ First Elementary School Dambara-yamasaki-cho (2,600m from the hypocenter)

There were not enough doctors and nurses to provide treatment. Medical relief teams entering the city from all over were assigned to relief stations, but the stream of injured was endless, and treatment continued without rest.
49
Those who desperately continued giving care
August, 1945
/ First Elementary School Dambara-yamasaki-cho (2,600m from the hypocenter)

Many people worked desperately trying to nurse family members back to life. However, most victims lay waiting in vain for a family member to find them. They died without a loved one to see them off.
Meal at the relief stations Hiroshima Second Army Hospital Relief Station
50
Meal at the relief stations
August, 1945
The staple food at relief stations was emergency rice balls carried in from surrounding communities. Some stations also made rice gruel, which was easier for the injured to eat. However, most of the injured had little or no appetite, and the food placed by their bedside was soon covered with flies.
51
Hiroshima Second Army Hospital Relief Station
August 7, 1945
/ Moto-machi (1,100m from the hypocenter)
First Elementary School Relief Station Army Marine Training Division
52
First Elementary School Relief Station
August, 1945
/ Dambara-yamasaki-cho (2,600m from the hypocenter)
53
Army Marine Training Division
August, 1945
/ Ujina-machi (4,300m from the hypocenter)
First Elementary School Relief Station Army Transport Quarantine Station on Ninoshima Island
54
First Elementary School Relief Station
August, 1945
/ Dambara-yamasaki-cho (2,600m from the hypocenter)
55
Army Transport Quarantine Station on Ninoshima Island
August, 1945
/ Ninoshima Island(9,000m from the hypocenter)
Nurse's uniform Nurse's cap

Nurse's arm badge
57
Nurse's cap

58
Nurse's arm badge

Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital Senda-machi 1-chome (1,350m from the hypocenter)
Teruko Ueno was exposed in the dormitory of the nursing school attached to Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital, where she was a student. Ueno was virtually uninjured. Contending with an unending flood of patients and medicine shortages, she helped provide relief at the hospital throuth October. She found this cap in the burnt ruins of the dormitory.
56
Nurse's uniform
Hiroshima Second Army Hospital Moto-machi (1,050m from the hypocenter)
Matsue Oi wore this uniform when she was caring for the injured. She was working as a nurse at Hiroshima Second Army Hospital when she was injured by the atomic bombing. Though she herself was too ill to eat, she treated the injured for a week.

Helping Victims in the Burnt Plain
-- Relief Activities with neither Medicine nor Food to Offer --

Preparing for Air Raids
Relief Activities amid the Turmoil
Full-scale Relief Activities
Conditions in Relief Stations and the Suffering of the People(1)
Conditions in Relief Stations and the Suffering of the People(2)
Relief Activities by the Akatsuki Corps on August 6

Conclusion
Individuals and Group Contributors to
This Exhibition


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