05 May 2024 , 07:53
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This woman's exploration of a town destroyed by nuclear meltdown feels like a journey straight out of the Fallout series.
Tokyo Matilda, a 20-year-old from Sheffield, England, embarked on a mission to delve into this deserted ghost town of Fukushima in Japan. The area was subject to disaster when the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant nearby went into meltdown following the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, leaking toxic nuclear waste into the environment and deeming it uninhabitable due to radiation.
As residents evacuated the town, never to return, it is now frozen in time and has been left subject to the elements for the 13 years since the catastrophe. What remains is an abandoned, apocalyptic wasteland similar to the setting of the Fallout games and TV series. The only people that remain are those trying to bring it back from extinction.
Tokyo is one of few people to have visited Fukushima since the disaster (Tokyo Matilda/ CATERS NEWS)
Tokyo likened the disaster zone to the Fallout movies and games (Tokyo Matilda/ CATERS NEWS)While visiting the disaster site, Tokyo explored a theme park, a school and even a ramen café that have all been empty since 2011. She said: "It reminded me of Fallout as it had such a heavy apocalyptic feeling. The only people who were walking around were the workers who try everyday to get rid of the radiated soil and to make it safe once again."
The empty buildings look the same as the day they were abandoned (Tokyo Matilda/ CATERS NEWS)The danger of radiation poisoning was a very real risk for Tokyo as she explored the many sights. She explained: "The hospital was the highest radiated place we explored located in the Red Zone. We had the fear of staying too long and having radiation sickness, I have never been as scared as I was in there."
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Fukushima is now empty and left in ruins after the nuclear meltdown (Tokyo Matilda/ CATERS NEWS)
The abandoned hospital sits in the Red Zone and has some of the highest levels or radiation (Tokyo Matilda/ CATERS NEWS)The Fukushima disaster took place when three of the six nuclear reactors in the power plant suffered damage to their core after the 9.1 magnitude earthquake and following tsunami.
The ghost town still holds remnants of the people who used to live there (Tokyo Matilda/ CATERS NEWS)In turn, they began releasing hydrogen and deadly toxic radiation into the surrounding environment and causing a huge hydrogen explosion that impeded immediate shutdown and rescue efforts. Some 11,000 people were killed and 4,000 injured, while more than 230,000 buildings were destroyed. Around 2,300 deaths have also been recognised as being indirectly caused by the incident.