Residents going back home to take their belongings, Tomioka, Fukushima “No-Go Zone”, Japan, 2011 'At the time of the Fukushima evacuation, the inhabitants fled from the radioactive cloud leaving everything behind. 134,000 people were forced to evacuate. Once a month, residents of the evacuated towns have special permission from the authorities to return to their homes to check that everything is in place and to remove their personal belongings. A recent survey among the evacuees has determined that 80% of the evacuees were absolutely not aware of what was going on and had no information on the type of protection to be taken'

Photograph: Pierpaolo Mittica