Years after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant’s meltdown disaster caused residents to evacuate, wild birds and animals continue to damage the places where people used to live, with wild creatures that used to stay in the forest entering those areas and destroying homes and farms.
The Oragahama district in the town of Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, which faces the Pacific Ocean, was designated as a “difficult-to-return zone” after the nuclear accident. In the 11 years since the disaster, wild boars and raccoons have made their way into residential areas, ruining houses and digging up gardens and farms. This has discouraged residents from returning to their homes, and even if they did, their daily lives would be hampered by such damage.
Hiromi Aizawa, 65, who evacuated from the town of Okuma to the city of Iwaki, is originally from the Oragahama district, where her family home has been damaged by wild animals. In late February, Aizawa and her husband, Ikuo, 76, went to the district to visit their family grave for the first time in several years.