Venesa Torres of Oak Ridge watches as citizens ring the International Friendship Bell at A.K. Bissell Park at 6:47 a.m. to commemorate the number of years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, Aug. 6, 2025, in Oak Ridge.

The survey was conducted ahead of the 80th anniversary of the bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two nuclear blasts killed around 200,000 people, many of whom were children, and left survivors with debilitating side effects, including higher rates of cancer and chronic illness.

TOKYO -- The atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki three days later brought a scale of destruction the world had never seen. Many who survived the blasts died in the weeks, months and years that followed. Japan surrendered six days after the Nagasaki bombing, bringing an end to World War II.