Hiroshima "black rain" fell over wider area

A recent study has found that "black rain" that fell on Hiroshima after the atomic bombing spread over a wider area than it was originally believed.

Black rain, which is radioactive, fell over Hiroshima after the U.S. atomic bombing of the city in 1945.

It is believed that heavy rain fell in an oval-shaped pattern centered on Hiroshima, stretching 19 kilometers north-south, and light rain over a wider 29-kilometer area.

The city conducts free medical consultations for its citizens who were in the severe rain area.

But based on numerous reports of black rain falling on other parts of the city, the municipal government conducted a new survey with experts at Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University.

The survey covered more than 1,800 people.

The survey showed that black rain fell on almost all areas of the city. The team also found that the center of the rainfall shifted gradually to the northwest as time passed.

Hiroshima is looking further into the results of the survey to call for improved assistance for the victims from the national government.