Asia-Pacific

Nuke town residents allowed 2-hour visit back home

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-26 14:54

TAMURA, Japan - Several dozen residents from the town around Japan's crippled nuclear plant have been allowed back to their homes briefly to collect belongings for the first time since the complex went into crisis after a devastating tsunami.

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Residents of Futaba were among the 80,000 people evacuated from the area soon after the March 11 disaster, and most have not been able to return.

Many evacuees had no idea how long the crisis would drag on and left with only the clothes they were wearing and their purses or wallets.

Residents of Futaba were allowed to stay at their homes for two hours only, and given one large plastic bag in which to collect their things due to space restrictions and fears of contamination.