Petition to save A-bomb buildings signed

THOUSANDS of people have signed an online petition against the planned demolition of two early 20th-century buildings that remained intact after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima devastated the Japanese city.

A local government official confirmed to AFP on Tuesday they had received the petition signed by 12,000 citizens calling for the preservation of the buildings that stand 2.7 kilometres (2 miles) from the 1945 blast.

The three-storey redbrick buildings are part of a cluster of four built in 1913 and used to manufacture Japanese military uniforms.

A routine earthquake inspection two years ago revealed they would not withstand a strong tremor. “There was no choice for us not to take any measures as a collapse could hurt residents in the neighbourhood,” said the official, who declined to give his name.

The local authorities own three of the cluster of four buildings and the national government owns the remaining property.