TOKYO (AP) — For many Japanese survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their relatives, Friday’s awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Japanese organization against nuclear weapons gives them hope for a new momentum to push for a nuclear-free world — starting from getting their own government to sign the nuclear weapons ban treaty.
Nihon Hidankyo, an organization of survivors of the two U.S. atomic bombings, became the first Japanese recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 50 years since the late Prime Minister Eisaku Sato was honored in 1974 for his contribution to regional stability and Japan's signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, the organization’s Hiroshima branch executive, was standing by at the city hall for the announcement. He cheered and teared up when he received the news. “Is it really true? Unbelievable!” Mimaki screamed, pinching his cheek with his fingers to make sure he was not dreaming.
“I believe the Nobel Peace Prize will give us more power to promote our cause toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons,” said Mimaki, who was exposed to atomic bombing at age 3 in Hiroshima, his father’s hometown, where he evacuated after surviving the U.S. air raid in Tokyo on March 10, 1945.
The group’s honor comes seven years after the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won the peace prize in 2017 for their contribution to the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Hidankyo members have helped collect more than 3 million signatures in favor of the treaty, and demanded the reluctant Japanese government sign it and do more to lead the nuclear disarmament as the world’s only country to have suffered atomic attacks.
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been criticized by survivors for refusing to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapon. He has argued that the pact is unworkable because no nuclear-armed state has signed.
Japanese leaders have repeatedly promised to serve as a middle ground between nuclear and non-nuclear states and stressed the need for dialogue toward nuclear disarmament, but refused to join the treaty even as an observer.
Atomic bombing survivors, or hibakusha, say Japanese leaders are only making hollow promises because Japan relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for protection and has been rapidly expanding its military.
“As hibakusha, it is extremely sad to see the Japanese government has not signed or ratified the nuclear weapons ban treaty,” said Terumi Tanaka, 91, a Hidankyo executive who survived the Nagasaki bombing at age 13. “I hope the Nobel Peace Prize opens up a chance to get the Japanese government to take the step.”
Tanaka said the prize is timely in a world increasingly facing the threat of nuclear weapons.
“Sadly, I think many people around the world still don’t understand how inhumane nuclear weapons are,” he said, adding that it is “a good chance for them to think about what we’ve kept saying all along.”
Japan, the United States and other regional partners have been stepping up security cooperation in response to a more assertive China and the growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea and Russia. Japan has sought stronger U.S. protection by its nuclear capability.
Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a security expert who took office this month, is an advocate of a NATO-style collective defense framework in Asia.
“It is extremely meaningful,” Ishiba said of the Hidankyo’s honor at a news conference from Vientiane where he attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
In Tokyo, many expressed surprise and joy as workers distributed a special newspaper edition on Hidankyo’s winning of the peace prize.
“I would be happy if this award can be an opportunity to make the people around the world think,” said Sayaka Nakanishi, a high school teacher.
Hiroshima Gov. Hidehiko Yuzaki, an advocate of nuclear disarmament, said Hidankyo’s win meant “the Nobel Foundation was warning against an international trend toward stronger nuclear armament.”
“We should really take the meaning of the award seriously and think about what they mean when hibakusha say they don’t want anyone else to suffer the same ordeal,” he said.
Many survivors of the bombings have suffered lasting injuries and illnesses resulting from the explosions and radiation exposure and have faced discrimination in Japan. Aging survivors are also worried about how to keep their stories alive for younger generations.
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki, whose parents were hibakusha, expressed hope that the international recognition for Hidankyo will help inspire younger generations around the world.
The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killed 140,000 people, and a second bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later killed another 70,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.
Hidankyo was formed 11 years later in 1956, amid a growing anti-nuclear movement in Japan in response to U.S. hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific that led to a series of radiation exposures by Japanese boats and added to demands for government support for health problems.
As of March, 106,823 survivors — 6,824 fewer than a year ago, and now with an average age of 85.6 — are certified as eligible for government medical support, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry. Many others, including those who say they were victims of the radioactive “black rain” that fell outside the initially designated areas of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are still without support.
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This version corrects the name of the Hiroshima branch executive to Toshiyuki Mimaki, not Tomoyuki Mimaki.
Associated Press video journalist Ayaka McGill contributed.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as he speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Shigemitsu Tanaka, the chairman of Nagasaki Atomic bomb Survivors Council, cries during a press conference, in Nagasaki, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize.(Kyodo News via AP)
A worker of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper hands out copies of an extra version to passersby in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
A worker of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper hands out copies of an extra version to passersby in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.
At least nine people were dead, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized. Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing threats to safety including downed power lines and flooded areas.
“We’re now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable,” DeSantis said Friday. “You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there."
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, the system flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ' baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.
As homeowners assessed damage to their property, about 2.4 million customers in Florida remained without power Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us. The 260,000 people in St. Petersburg were told to boil water before drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday.
But the state’s vital tourism industry started to return to normal, with several theme parks preparing to reopen. The state's busiest airport was also scheduled to fully reopen Friday.
Flooding from Milton's heavy rains was still causing problems.
Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River on Friday morning. The river is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.
Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water Friday at a strip mall in Lithia east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.
“I’m high and dry where I’m at and I have a barn and 9 acres,” said Evers, adding she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.
In Riverview, named because of its proximity to the Alafia River, a small bridge over a creek washed out, blocking Canadian Del Ockey from the home where he spends the six coldest months of the year.
Two planks over the now trickling creek are the only way he can get to his house. He rented a car and parked it on the other side, making a run Friday morning to get gas and fix a chain saw that broke as he was cutting down fallen trees around his home.
Ockey said he's used to hurricanes, having built his house 26 years ago, but Milton was different.
“We’ve had seven or eight of them come before, but nothing like this one. This was big-time,” Ockey said.
Before noon on Friday, cars with residents returning to evacuated homes in southwest Florida crept along in a slow-moving line of traffic across Interstate 75, also known as Alligator Alley. Many had evacuated to the state’s Atlantic Coast near Fort Lauderdale and Miami. On Thursday evening, bucket trucks, fuel tankers, portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles streamed toward the hardest-hit areas.
Finding gas was still a challenge. Fuel stations were still closed as far away as Ocala, more than a two and a half hour drive north of where the storm made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on Wednesday night.
Natasha Ducre and her husband, Terry, were just feeling lucky to be alive. Milton peeled the tin roof off of their cinderblock home in their neighborhood a few blocks north of the Manatee River, about a 45-minute drive south of Tampa. The couple and their family evacuated Wednesday night as the storm barreled toward them — a decision they believe probably saved their lives.
“It ain’t much, but it was ours. What little bit we did have is gone,” Natasha Ducre said. “It’s gone.”
As residents rushed back to their homes to assess the damages, tourists who had come for a vacation found that Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld had reopened Friday.
Orlando International Airport, the state’s busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume Friday, after resuming domestic arrivals Thursday evening. The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers also reopened Friday.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and Patrick Space Force Base near Cocoa Beach remain closed, with only authorized personnel allowed on the bases. MacDill, home to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command, experienced some damage and flooding, Air Force officials said. Patrick was spared any significant damage.
Milton prevented Simon Forster, his wife and their two children from returning to Scotland as planned Wednesday evening, so they enjoyed an extra two days of their two-week vacation on a bustling International Drive in Orlando’s tourism district on Thursday. Hurricanes seem to follow them since 2022's Hurricane Ian kept them from returning to Scotland after another Orlando vacation.
“Two extra days here — there are worse places we could be," he said.
This story has been edited to correct the last name of the couple whose home was severely damaged. It is Ducre, not Shannon.
Payne and Daley reported from Palmetto, Florida. Associated Press journalists Holly Ramer and Kathy McCormack in New Hampshire; Terry Spencer outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; Michael Goldberg in Minneapolis; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Lolita Baldor in Washington; Ken Miller in Edmond, Oklahoma; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
A bridge going over a small creek is seen damaged by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. The road is the only access point into a community. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A lifeguard hut is on its side after Hurricane Milton at Clearwater Beach, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
Clean up continues at Clearwater Beach, Fla., after Hurricane Milton on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
FILE - Neighborhoods with debris from tornadoes are visible in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Oct. 10, 2024, in Fort Pierce, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Public work employees remove sand that was pushed to the streets by wind and storm surge from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Renel Prophet carries a chainsaw to get it repaired after it broke while cleaning out down trees in his property, which became unaccessible during Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Public work employees remove sand from the roadways, that was pushed to the streets by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge from Hurricane Milton, that leads onto his property, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge to his property from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A man who identified himself as Jesse walks out through floodwaters of the Anclote River after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
A tree toppled by Hurricane Milton lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A truck drives down a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A broken sign and other debris lie alongside Gilligan's Island Bar & Grill after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
People from Sarasota, Fla., visit a familiar beach on Siesta Key, Fla., which they say was already decimated by Hurricane Helene, and lost feet more of sand coverage in Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A car backs up after encountering deeper water on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Natasha Ducre surveys the kitchen of her devastated home, which lost most of its roof during the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Palmetto, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Ducre, her husband, three children, and two grandkids rode out the storm in a government shelter and returned to find their home unlivable and much of their furniture and belongings destroyed by rainwater. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A piece of debris is wrapped high around a tree in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A tree lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A pick up drives past a guard gate on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Flood waters recede after Hurricane Milton, on streets where piles of debris from Hurricane Helene flooding, sit outside many homes, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
