Ghost Town Namie in Japan

Two years have passed since the earthquake and tsunami off the east coast of Japan, which became the cause of the accident at the Fukushima-1, but the vast area around the power plant remain the zone of alienation. Residents of a small village north of Namie emergency plant were evacuated shortly after the earthquake, and no longer able to return to their homes. Namie turned into a ghost town.

At the request of local authorities, Google sent to Namie cars equipped with cameras to map the deserted streets of the city, and the locals were able to see their abandoned houses. Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba wrote in the blog Google: «After the earthquake in March 2011, the whole world has gone further, and many places in Japan began to recover. But Namie time ever stopped. We, the older generation, the city inherited from their ancestors, and we are very hurt that we could not pass it on to their children ».
30 photos via theatlantic.com





1. Car Volkswagen stands near damaged buildings in the village of Namie.



2. The streets are overgrown with grass and bushes



3. The roof of a house destroyed by an earthquake in 2011, lies on the road in the village of Namie, Japan.



4. Bicycles are an abandoned parking lot near the train station in the village of Namie



5. Fallen tombstones lie in the cemetery near the coast



6. Let the fishing port in Ukedo. Before the tsunami at the port were 140 fishing vessels



7. Vending machines near the damaged building



8. Fishing vessels and debris lie near the coast



9. Ruins of the house are on the street in Namie



10. Abandoned house and grassed parking



11. The wreckage of boats lie near the damaged buildings in the harbor Ukedo.



12. The car is reflected in a mirror near the overgrown road in the village of Namie.



13. crumpled car near a dam near the coast in Ukedo



14. Damaged building in the harbor Ukedo.



15. Collapsed building near empty restaurant in the village of Namie.



16. The remaining buildings near the coast in the village of Namie



17. Garbage lies on the road near the Pacific coast in the village of Namie



18. tumbledown house stands in a field in the tsunami-affected areas.



19. The monument near the road close to the coast in Namie.



20. crumpled vehicles off the road in the village of Namie.



21. Most of the roads in Namie dead end. They are either destroyed by an earthquake, or lead to the exclusion zone



22. Another house collapsed in the village of Namie



23. crumpled cars lying in a field close to the coast in the village of Namie



24. Fishing nets lie in an abandoned chapel in Ukedo.



25. Ravens sitting on the bridge over the river in the village of Namie Ukedo



26. The tractor is among the thickets of grass



27. The building of elementary school Ukedo. All 92 of her students had to be evacuated before the tsunami.



28. Elementary School in Ukedo



29. The inscription on the blackboard reads: "I love elementary school Ukedo. I will definitely be back again".



30. In the distance rise buildings Fukushima-1. View from the roof of the elementary school Ukedo.



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