Hiroshima residents still felt the fallout after 15 years
CBC visited city's Atomic Hospital, where 70 patients a day sought treatment in 1960
Everywhere, there were cranes.
Hundreds of the folded origami paper birds were massed on strings in patients' rooms at Hiroshima's Atomic Hospital in 1960. They were tokens of good luck for people who were sick and dying 15 years after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city to bring an end to the Second World War.
"Early morning, the lineup of outpatients begins. Seventy a day, every day," reported the CBC's Michael Maclear on a visit to the hospital.
Increasing numbers of people were suffering from leukemia, or cancer of the blood. Between 40 and 50 people are still dying each year of complications from the atomic bomb, according to hospital director Dr. Shigeto.
"This woman is blind, has leukemia, and severe radiation burns that will not heal. Her case is not unusual," said Maclear, as the camera shows a patient being treated.
The city preserved the dome of the Industrial Exhibition Hall that lay at the epicentre of the bomb, as well as the spot where a man's shadow was burnt into the steps of the Sumitomo bank.
