2. Namie, Japan
When the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred in 2011, one of the towns that was obliterated was the 120 year old Namie. The tiny town of 21,000, was one of the closest locations to ‘ground-zero’, being only 6 km away from the plant. Even though the village is within the 20 km exclusion zone and the entire town was advised to evacuate, not everyone left. Some couldn’t bring themselves to leave their homes, others couldn’t abandon their farm animals.
Since the disaster, the Japanese government has pledged to return residents to the area, but the process of decontamination is a slow and expensive (up to $10,000 per home) one. While residents can now visit their former homes, they are not allowed to spend the night. Despite all this, many of the former inhabitants of Namie still hope to return to their homes one day.
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