Exclusion Zone

Three weeks after the earthquake and tsunami severely damaged the Fukushima plant in Japan, this area has turned into an eerie landscape of ruins and ghost towns. The government initiated the creation of the 12-mile quarantine zone around the station, the so-called exclusion zone where radiation levels are four times higher than that considered safe for human health. Earlier in these villages lived thousands of people, but now only a few brave stubborn remain in their homes despite the evacuation order. Most of the buildings are destroyed by the tsunami, electricity has only a few houses, in addition, over the area still looming threat of a nuclear disaster - a prospect frightens nation still reeling after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Photographer Donald Weber ignored the government ban and went to the exclusion zone, to make a series of photographs on the instructions of "Newsweek". Odaka City, shown here, is located in the exclusion zone, so that repair and rescue operations are not carried out




The ruins of the coast of Minamisoma.



Traffic light on a deserted street in Odaka.



Agee Furuuchi returned to Odaka with her sister, to try to salvage something from the supermarket belonging to him.



Although most homes do not have electricity or water in the laundry room on the main street there and then, and more.



On the streets of Odaka and found the dead body ...



Dilapidated buildings in the center of Odaka.



Abandoned boots in one of the houses. Time seemed frozen here.



Several lights illuminate empty streets.



Residents do not actually have given time to pack, so most had to leave the property.



The road leading to the station, deserted and dark. Only a few residents dare to return to the exclusion zone, in order to save at least some property.