Hiroshima

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Industrial city and port on the south coast of Honshu Island, Japan; population (2005) 1,154,400. On 6 August 1945 it was destroyed by the first wartime use of an atomic bomb. The city has been largely rebuilt since then. The main industries include food processing and the manufacture of cars and machinery.

Towards the end of World War II the city, which was the seventh largest in Japan, was utterly devastated by the first US atomic bomb dropped by the Enola Gay; the strike on Nagasaki followed three days later. More than 10 sq km/4 sq mi were obliterated, with very heavy damage outside that area. Casualties totalled at least 137,000 out of a population of 343,000: 78,150 were found dead, others died later. By 1995, the estimated death toll, which included individuals who had died from radiation-related diseases in the intervening years, had climbed to about 192,000. An annual commemorative ceremony is held on 6 August.

White was added to the flag to identify Bahrain as a friendly state. Red was the traditional colour of the Kharijite Sect. In 2002 the number of serrations were reduced to five, possibly representing the five pillars of Islam. Effective date: 19 August 1972. >>