Organised by Chennai Youth Center, the occasion will see volunteers, residents all over the city as well as expats who will be invited to participate in the tribute – by creating origami peace cranes – that will be later sent to Japan. 

On August 6, 1945 a bomber aircraft dropped the nuclear bomb ‘Little Boy’ on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, which detonated 1,900 feet above the ground. The bomb flattened everything within five-mile radius of the town, killing 70,000 people instantly, taking lives of more than 80,000 people in the subsequent months. Three days later on August 9, the second atomic bomb with the code-named ‘fat man’, struck the quiet town of Nagasaki. An estimated 50,000 people were dead on day one, and 25,000 more in the subsequent month. 

But what is the significance of the paper cranes, that are used to pay tribute to the victims? “At the time of the explosion of the Hiroshima bomb, a little girl Sadako Sasaki was at home, about 1 mile from ground zero. By some miracle, she survived initially. Subsequently, she was diagnosed with leukaemia and hospitalised, given one year to live. Sadako’s best friend visited her at the hospital and cut a golden piece of paper into a square and folded it into a paper crane. Inspired by the crane, she started folding them herself, spurred on by the Japanese saying that one who folded 1,000 cranes was granted a wish,” explains Rashmi MD, one of the members of the Chennai Youth Center.

“Ten years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Sadako Sasaki died as a result of the leukaemia. Sadako’s determination to fold the paper cranes, symbolised her hope for peace and courageous struggle with her illness – inspiring not just the Japanese, but people across the world, including us,” she adds.

The Children’s Peace Statue stands in memory of Sadako and the many other children who were victims of the bombing of Hiroshima. To this day, in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, the statue of Sadako is decorated with thousands of paper cranes brought and sent by people around the world. 

“We got together as a group during the Chennai floods, and have been working together ever since. We heard about the Tamil Nadu Science Forum paying their tributes to the Hiroshima victims annually; that’s when we got the idea to start this project. Since we work with a lot of children from government schools and the slums, they will be joining us in making the cranes,” Rashmi concludes.