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Fukushima five years on

March 12, 2016

5 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the exclusion zone is to be made habitable again.

https://p.dw.com/p/1IC4h
Japan Fukushima Wohngebiet Sperrzone
Image: Getty Images/C.Furlong

Fukushima five years on

Until the Fukushima disaster, Toru Anzai lived near the nuclear power plant, but on March 11, 2011, an earthquake and tsunami triggered a core meltdown. Four of the Japanese power plant's six reactor blocks were damaged. Large amounts of radioactive material were released. As a result, 170,000 people had to be evacuated. Anzai was one of them, because his house and land were contaminated. Now the Japanese government wants the evacuees to return. Work on decontaminating the evacuation zone is in full swing. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government wants to gradually lift a series of evacuation orders by March 2017. But because of the radioactive contamination that still exists, many people are unwilling to return. Anzai also has his doubts. He sets off to visit his house. What will he decide to do?