Right after the explosion, smoke is pushing up through the clouds of dust, and as the houses burn, large water droplets fall. Although the bomb caused fires citywide, other fires break out from inflammable wreckage that falls on peoples' stoves as well as on live wires. A lot of random destruction has occurred, and the survivors are having difficulty piecing together what has happened.
Mr. Tanimoto, the minister, runs "wildly" away from the estate and performs various acts of mercy. At first he thinks several bombs were dropped. He runs up a hillock on a private estate where he can get a panoramic view. What greets Tanimoto's eyes is unimaginable, and it causes him to run toward the city, concerned for his wife, baby, home, church, and parishioners.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Nakamura struggles out of the debris of her house and attempts to rescue her children. When she finds her children unhurt, she irrationally puts pants, blouses, shoes, helmets, and overcoats on them. She illogically drops the "symbol of her livelihood," her sewing machine, in a cement tank filled with water in the front yard. Grabbing a rucksack of emergency items, Mrs. Nakamura, her children, and a neighbor leave for Asano Park, an evacuation area on a rich estate by the Kyo River. The only building she sees standing is the Jesuit mission house. Father Kleinsorge, in his underwear, is leaving the mission house with a small suitcase.
