These are some quotes I found directly from the people affected by the bombing.
This is a diary quote from Dr.Hachiya of the Shima Hospital (right below the hypocenter of the bomb)."Suddenly, a strong flash of light startled me-and then another. . . . A profound weakness overcame me, so I stopped to regain my strength. To my surprise I discovered that I was completely naked. . . . All over the right side of my body I was cut and bleeding. A large splinter was protruding from a mangled wound in my thigh, and something warm trickled into my mouth. My cheek was torn, I discovered as I felt it gingerly, with the lower lip laid wide open. Embedded in my neck was a sizable fragment of glass which I matter-of-factly dislodged, and with the detachment of one stunned and shocked I studied it and my blood-stained hand."
This quote is from Ms. Toshiko Saeki:
"[T]here came a flash of light. I can't describe what it was like. And then, I felt some hot mask attacking me all of a sudden. I felt hot. I lay flat on the ground, trying to escape from the heat. I forgot all about my children for a moment. Then, there came a big sound, sliding wooden doors and window were blown off into the air. I turned around to see what had happened to the house, and at one part of the ceiling, it was hanging in the air. At some parts, the ceiling was caved in, burying my sister's child and my child as well."
Her entire family was in the city when the bomb exploded and she wanted to go search for them but she heard "things and flames are falling from the sky" so she waited until it was safer.
Another quote from 10-year-old Sakeu Shimohira:
"My sister, nephew and I were playing inside the shelter when there was a sudden, brilliant flash of light. I remember nothing else. We were spared the heat rays generated by the explosion but everything went dark and I fell unconscious. I do not know how much time had elapsed when someone shook me and brought me back to my senses. When my vision cleared, I could not believe the sights before my eyes. People with gruesome wounds were filing into the shelter one after another. They were horribly burned, covered with glass splinters like pin cushions, and so disfigured that it was impossible to distinguish one person from another. . . The stench inside the shelter became so strong that I could hardly breathe."
This is a diary quote from Dr.Hachiya of the Shima Hospital (right below the hypocenter of the bomb)."Suddenly, a strong flash of light startled me-and then another. . . . A profound weakness overcame me, so I stopped to regain my strength. To my surprise I discovered that I was completely naked. . . . All over the right side of my body I was cut and bleeding. A large splinter was protruding from a mangled wound in my thigh, and something warm trickled into my mouth. My cheek was torn, I discovered as I felt it gingerly, with the lower lip laid wide open. Embedded in my neck was a sizable fragment of glass which I matter-of-factly dislodged, and with the detachment of one stunned and shocked I studied it and my blood-stained hand."
This quote is from Ms. Toshiko Saeki:
"[T]here came a flash of light. I can't describe what it was like. And then, I felt some hot mask attacking me all of a sudden. I felt hot. I lay flat on the ground, trying to escape from the heat. I forgot all about my children for a moment. Then, there came a big sound, sliding wooden doors and window were blown off into the air. I turned around to see what had happened to the house, and at one part of the ceiling, it was hanging in the air. At some parts, the ceiling was caved in, burying my sister's child and my child as well."
Her entire family was in the city when the bomb exploded and she wanted to go search for them but she heard "things and flames are falling from the sky" so she waited until it was safer.
Another quote from 10-year-old Sakeu Shimohira:
"My sister, nephew and I were playing inside the shelter when there was a sudden, brilliant flash of light. I remember nothing else. We were spared the heat rays generated by the explosion but everything went dark and I fell unconscious. I do not know how much time had elapsed when someone shook me and brought me back to my senses. When my vision cleared, I could not believe the sights before my eyes. People with gruesome wounds were filing into the shelter one after another. They were horribly burned, covered with glass splinters like pin cushions, and so disfigured that it was impossible to distinguish one person from another. . . The stench inside the shelter became so strong that I could hardly breathe."
This bombing affected the American people (and the world now that I think about it) in such a way that everyone feared the coming of an almost obvious coming of a nuclear war. The people were frightened that all of the radiation or just the plain carnage would kill off the entire human race.