Emotional photos from the abandoned exclusion zone of Fukushima

Eight years ago, the Fukushima disaster forever changed life in the surrounding areas. The nuclear accident against the backdrop of the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku was the worst in history since the time of Chernobyl. Almost a decade after the tragic incident, the Polish photographer Natalia Sobanska visited this place, once filled with life. During her stay in the exclusion zone, she captured the city of frozen time.

This incident led to thousands of deaths. And if the accident caused the death of two people (directly from bodily harm), then more than two thousand people died as a result of long-term complications associated with the evacuation. Until now, hundreds of people cannot recover from the loss of their homes, enterprises, relatives and friends. Sobanska, specializing in shooting abandoned locations, went to Fukushima to see with her own eyes the consequences of the disaster and try to understand what was happening and how that terrible day.

The photographer admits that she did not expect to encounter such a nightmarish picture, she was not ready for a tragedy of this magnitude. The radius of 12 miles around the power plant was declared an evacuation zone, and it makes a stunning impression.