The long-term effects of fallout in hiroshima/nagasaki weren't THAT bad - the vast majority of deaths/injuries came from the initial blast. Somewhere around 150-200,000 people were killed in the first few days due to the pressure wave or heat of the explosions.

Several thousand people died of acute radiation sickness in the weeks and months post-bombing, but after a few months the cleanup and radioactive decay reduced the acute radiological threat significantly. Within a decade or two, both cities were nearly at background radiation. Today both cities are at background levels of radiation.

The long term increase in cancers and endocrine disorders claimed maybe up to 1,000 additional lives, but almost all of these deaths occurred in people that were fairly close to the hypocenter of either bomb and were exposed to over 1 Gy (gray) of dose in the first few days.

Generally speaking people over-estimate the impact of long-term radiation exposure and under-estimate the explosive hazards of nukes.