The area around the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been made strange by abandonment. On a recent visit, I walked down eerie, empty streets, passed homes from which families fled in terror of a nuclear meltdown and shops that would be silent perhaps for years to come.
And as I traveled across the region, it was obvious that the effects of the disaster varied from village to village — it was far more complicated than the "neat and tidy" hazard map with its concentric circles radiating out from the plant — and that we needed a more comprehensive map which could account for geography, weather conditions and the changing nature of a nuclear disaster.
In the other areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami further north in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, I saw the enormous efforts people are making to restore some normality to their lives and the difficulties that need to be overcome in rebuilding safe homes for hundreds of thousands of survivors.