In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fatalities, injuries, and physical destruction from the bombs’ blast, heat, and radiation are described in relation to distance from the atomic explosion, creating an imagined overlay of concentric circles radiating outward from the hypocenter. Within Nagasaki’s first concentric circle—a half kilometer (three-tenths of a mile) in all directions from the blast—nearly all buildings were demolished, and bodies were disintegrated or burned beyond recognition. Mortality was estimated at over 90 percent.
