When a hugely destructive bomb known as the mother of all bombs (MOAB) was dropped in Afghanistan on April 13, it was described as the first combat use of the biggest non-nuclear explosive. This bomb officially known as GBU 43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast weighs 10,000 kilograms and its blast yield is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT. Although lighter in weight than the MOAB, its blast yield is about four times greater or the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT. Massively destructive as it is, this is no match for nuclear weapons — the nuclear bomb which destroyed Hiroshima had a blast yield equivalent to about 15,000 tons of TNT. Nearly 100,000 people were killed within a few minutes of being hit by nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Source: The China Post May 13, 2017 15:56 UTC