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Photographer sneaks into Fukushima disaster exclusion zone

Tuesday, 12 July 2016 11:32 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 12 July 2016 11:41 PM ]

A picture taken by Malaysian photographer Keow Wee Loong in an abandoned store residing within the exclusion zone around the site of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant (Barcroft images)

A photographer has snuck into Fukushima's exclusion zone which is still cordoned off from the public five years after a devastating nuclear disaster.

Malaysian photographer Keow Wee Loong and some of his friends snuck into the exclusion zone under the cover of nightfall and captured these eerie images.

On March 11, 2011, a huge tsunami, caused by a nine-magnitude earthquake, wreaked heavy damage on the Fukushima nuclear plant’s cooling systems that led to three meltdowns and release of vast amounts of radiation into the surrounding environment.

The incident, considered the world’s worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, also prompted the evacuation of 160,000 people from areas near the power plant.

“Due to the high level of radiation, the town was filled with police so we had a limited amount of time to explore everything in all four towns. We entered the red exclusion zone in the dark around 1am, to avoid attention from the cops,” the photographer said.
The team wore only masks as they explored abandoned locations in four of the evacuated towns in Fukushima -- Tomioka, Okuma, Namie, and Futaba.

“The residents of these three towns in the red exclusion zone left so quickly they didn't even pack or take anything valuable with them,” he said.

“If you visit any boutique or shopping mall in these towns, you will see the merchandise exactly where it was since 2011, nothing has been changed or moved,” he added.