43 Hypocenter/Shima Hospital (A-bomb Disaster Marker)
The atomic bomb, which was targeted at the T-shaped Aioi Bridge, exploded at 132 degrees, 27 minutes, 29 seconds east latitude and 34 degrees, 23 minutes, 29 seconds north longitude and an altitude of 600 meters. This was the sky above Shima Hospital, located at 29-2 Saiku-machi, Hiroshima City.
Shima Hospital was built in 1933. It was a modern, two-story brick building distinguished by round pillars framing the entrance and circular windows.
On the day of the bombing, hospital director Dr. Shima was treating patients away from the hospital and thus escaped harm. The building was destroyed instantly, and the roughly 80 patients, nurses, and others estimated to have been in the building disappeared without a trace.
* Estimation of the hypocenter
The basic data used to make this estimation was the direction of shadows caused by the heat ray. Those directions were plotted on a map, and the point where they intersected was determined to be the hypocenter.
