Today, 88-year-old Terumi Tanaka tells Reuters how he ran down the stairs to the ground floor, closed his eyes and covered his ears. Then he lost consciousness.

Although the pressure wave from the bomb had smashed a glass door against him, he survived unscathed. His mother and two sisters also survived. He never forgets the horrific scenes in the city afterwards.

- In the burnt ruins there were shapes that resembled humans, or bodies that had crumbled where only the bones remained. After three days, the rescue workers had still not arrived, so the seriously injured who had not received any help remained on the ground, he says.

Lost relatives

In the explosion, he lost his aunt. His uncle also died a week after the bomb - probably due to the radiation.

- People just died one by one. They seemed to be fine but suddenly they collapsed, got a high fever and died.

Working to abolish nuclear weapons

Today, Terumi Tanaka tries to spread his testimony as much as possible with the hope that peace will be preserved and nuclear weapons abolished. For many years he was general secretary of a Japanese organization for people affected by the atomic bombs.

He is positive that the world is disarming when it comes to nuclear weapons, but thinks it is slow.

- I am worried about whether people will really be able to understand what we have been through when all the atomic bomb survivors are gone, he says.