T HE month of August reminds us of the catastrophic events that made an impact not only on a particular country, but also humanity. Atom bombs dropped by the United States of America on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were actually crimes against humanity.

It was on Aug 6, 1945, at the fag end of World War H, that the US dropped world`s first deployed atomic bomb through a B-29 bomber on Hiroshima. It instantly killed about 80,000 people, leaving tens of thousands to die later of radiation exposure.

Just three days later, Nagasaki was devastated when another B-29 dropped a nuclear bomb which killed about 40,000 people. Although this ended the war as Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced unconditional surrender on Aug 15, the two attacks left an indelible mark on the country, and caused unimaginable misery to the people of Japan.

A couple of years ago, Beirut port infrastructure in Lebanon exploded on Aug 4 (as seen in the picture above), apparently owing to an ammonium nitrate chain reaction. Nobody is sure if it was a human error or a case of planned destruction. Even after two years of the explosion at the port, the victims of the blast are still hoping for justice and trying to find answers to their questions.

The lastexplosionresultedin218 deaths and over 7,000 injuries, and caused $15 billion loss to the economy of Lebanon.

According to an estimate, 300,000 people were displaced because of this incident.

Since then Lebanon`s economy has been struggling and the country is now on the verge of bankruptcy. The causes of the incident are still unknown.

From 1945 to 2020, have these explosions in the world caused any benefit? Such horrific events made the lives of the people miserable. Although Japan handled the situation after the surrender, and made exponential progress in terms of economy and technology, it lost about 300,000 people. Needless to say, Japanese still face the negative consequences of the two atomic attacks in the shape the radioactive impact on civilians, creating severe health issues.Why do we need to develop such explosives and lethal arms? They should be used to defend not to harm the people of other nations or ourselves? Are these weapons of any worth except killing human beings? Moreover, these types of explosives and chemicals are dumped and thrown into the rivers and oceans, causing dreadful effects on humans as well as life underwater and on the land. These chemicals cause ocean acidification. Whether we drop the explosives during attack or for defence, or if we are not using them at all, there is still a high risk of deaths from these radioactive chemicals.

These nuclear arms, explosives and deadly weapons do not threaten the opponents alone; they also harm the people of the country that deploys these weapons against the enemy. With temperatures soaring in the wake of the climate change phenomenon, there are chances of explosions in the stored explosives. We never know what will happen tomorrow.

Humans are developing modern weaponry to kill humans. Where is the humanity the United Nations keeps talking about? While there are myriad issues to resolve at the international level, big powers are busy manufacturing weapons and preparing for wars, which may only end in devastation and misery.

To many a stakeholder, war is a business.

They need wars to keep their machines moving. Politicians join hands with them, and launch wars, directly or indirectly, knowing that war would resolve no issue and they would in the end sit across the table with the enemies and settle the matter through talks and deals. The war industry makes its billions, and the politicians get an opportunity to first flex their muscles and then show their diplomatic skills. The only losers in the equation happen to be the masses who suffer during the war and long after the politicians have gone home after striking their deals.

The tragic events of the past should be a lesson for the world community. The world is a place to live, not to suffer. Let us try to keep that equation intact for as long as we can.

Filza Mahar Sukkur