Switzerland: Ceremony recalls dangers of nuclear weapons
Source: ICRC Press Release
Hiroko Miyahara, who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, plants a sapling of a Gingko biloba tree that survived the Hiroshima bombing.
A descendant of a Gingko biloba tree that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 was planted at a ceremony at the ICRC's headquarters in Geneva today, standing as a reminder of the horrific consequences of nuclear weapons and as a sign of hope that they will one day be eliminated.
The Gingko biloba planted today is the first sapling of the 200-year-old Hiroshima survivor tree to be planted in Switzerland.
The ICRC and the city of Hiroshima have a unique bond. Dr Marcel Junod, then head of the ICRC's delegation in Japan, was the first foreign doctor to enter the devastated city a little over a month after the bombing, bringing with him desperately needed medical supplies. Since then, the ICRC, and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement more broadly, have regularly urged States to pursue the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons, drawing conviction from Junod's shocking findings in Hiroshima.
ICRC delegate Fritz Bilfinger reached Hiroshima shortly after the bombing. He sent Dr Junod a shocked telegram describing the situation in the city.
Speaking at the event in Geneva today, ICRC vice-president Olivier Vodoz said: "Nuclear weapons are unique in their destructive power. The scale of the destruction, and the risk associated with exposure to ionizing radiation, make it nearly impossible to deliver adequate humanitarian assistance to victims in the aftermath of a nuclear blast. We firmly believe that States must ensure such weapons are never used again."
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Read more: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/feature/2013/08-06-switzerland-japan-nuclear-bomb.htm