In March 2011, 88,000 people lived in Fukushima Prefecture before an extremely powerful tsunami hit the area and destroyed most of the area and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The last 10 years have passed with the plant decontaminated and decommissioned. We also have many more years ahead of us. Today, 14,000 people live in the reopened areas, and the restricted areas continue to shrink. Okuma is a new district and construction work there continues despite the pandemic.

Buildings were disinfected, contaminated land was evacuated or covered with healthy soil. According to experts, radioactivity can only be found at the site of the old power station, but nowhere else in the region is there more radioactivity than in any of the world’s major world capitals.

Installations everywhere measure radioactivity in the area. Thanks to the analyzes made by the Fukushima Research Center, the public is constantly informed.

Returning to Fukushima, locals told Euronews how they felt about living there again. Yamamoto Chiyoko says she sees a big difference, “When I got back to Reading there was really nothing, just bunkers and temporary stores, but now big buildings have been built”.

Kato Koji and his family returned to Fukushima just two weeks after the disaster. Farmers who produce rice, offer homemade beer, and love their land. Kato Emi has even become an ambassador for local products around the world. He says there was little resistance to local produce, but that farmers there suffered greatly in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

Kato Emi tells us that she will be happy if they tell us that she has four children and that they are proud to have been born in Fukushima.

Click on the media player above to watch the full report on Fukushima residents 10 years after the disaster.