Photojournalist Says Fukushima Aftermath Worse Than War Zones

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED 28.04.2014

Famed photojournalist Dominic Nahr, who has been tasked with documenting Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, said the aftermath of the disaster at the nuclear power plant is worse than what he had seen in conflicts areas in East Timor and Somalia, Japan Daily Press reported Monday.

“People in Fukushima look calm but are more depressed, accepting their situation,” Nahr was quoted as saying during an interview in Tokyo.

The Swiss-born photographer, who grew up in Hong King, added that people in Japan are still reluctant to discuss the Fukushima disaster even three years after the incident. He recollects how shocked he was to see the destruction in the areas surrounding the nuclear power plant and thousands of evacuees forced to leave their homes and belongings in 2011.

“Everything looked calm on the surface, but you could see fear in their faces,” Nahr said.

The photographer, who continued to return to Fukushima despite the radiation contamination, claims the pursuit of money and superiority in the country’s energy sector led Japan to the disaster.

Earlier this month, the first residents of Fukushima Prefecture started returning to their houses following the partial lift of the evacuation order and a drop in radiation levels.

In March 2011, Japan was hit by a massive 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, claiming more than 15,000 lives and causing a number of explosions at the Fukushima plant. In what has been dubbed the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, three of the plant’s reactors underwent a partial meltdown as radiation leaked into the atmosphere, soil and seawater.

Topics: NPP Fukushima Daiichi

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