07/12/2016 / By fukushima
It has been five years since reactor four went in to meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power plant, triggered by a huge tsunami and earthquake that devastated Japan.
(Article by Toby Meyjes)
The nuclear disaster led to the imposition of a 20 mile evacuation zone, similar to that seen in Chernobyl, more than 25 years earlier.
Many of the towns that lay within it, have remained almost untouched since.
Determined to see the evidence for himself, photographer Keow Wee Loong ignored the need for special permit and crept in to the exclusion zone overnight.
These pictures, taken at Okuma,Futaba and Namie, were the result.Explaining what it was like to enter the red zone, Loong said he could feel a ‘burning sensation’ in his eyes and noticed a ‘thick chemical smell in the air’.
‘Everything is exactly where it is after the earthquake struck,’ he said.
‘The radiation level is still very high, not many people have seen this town in the last five years.It is like it vanished.‘I found food, money, gold, laptops and other valuables. I’m amazed that nobody looted these towns clean.’
Read more at: metro.co.ukTagged Under: Fukushima Ghost Towns, nuclear disaster