Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (CNN) — “You’re listening to Fukushima FM.” The cheery jingle on the radio reminds you of a different time in this part of eastern Japan, a different world that existed before March 11, 2011.
Driving past houses that residents can no longer call home, you can still see sandbags holding down tarpaulins on damaged roofs. They’re the result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami more than two years ago, and repairs the owners have not yet been able to carry out.
We’re inside the original 20-kilometer (12-mile) exclusion zone, an area completely evacuated after the tsunami knocked out vital cooling systems for three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing them to melt down and emit radioactive material.
Continue reading at Fukushima: The long road home after 2011 disaster
