In March 2011 the world watched in horror as a powerful earthquake rocked Japan, before a deadly tsunami swept ashore, washing away any boats, cars, homes and people unfortunate enough to be in its path.

But while the initial reports of 19,000 dead shocked viewers around the globe, that news would soon be superseded by the terrors to come from the then-unknown town of Fukushima as its nuclear power plant was overcome by floodwater before going into meltdown.

Now, nearly three years on from the natural disaster, a very unnatural catastrophe is still unfolding in the central prefecture while the villagers who used to live around the plant are still suffering.

In March 2011 the world watched in horror as a powerful earthquake rocked Japan, before a deadly tsunami swept ashore, washing away any boats, cars, homes and people unfortunate enough to be in its path.

But while the initial reports of 19,000 dead shocked viewers around the globe, that news would soon be superseded by the terrors to come from the then-unknown town of Fukushima as its nuclear power plant was overcome by floodwater before going into meltdown.

Now, nearly three years on from the natural disaster, a very unnatural catastrophe is still unfolding in the central prefecture while the villagers who used to live around the plant are still suffering.

Fallout: There is still a 12-mile exclusion zone in place around Fukushima which contains hundreds of bags of radioactive soil which cannot be removed due to opposition from those outside

No way back: Some 22,000 former residents of Namie (pictured) are being allowed back to their homes, but can only go once a month and cannot stay overnight

Cleanup: In December Tepco, the company which owns the Fukushima plant, announced it had reached a state of ‘cold shutdown’ allowing a cleanup operation to begin

In total 80,000 people were evacuated because of the disaster as a 12-mile ‘no go zone’ was put in place around the stricken facility. Tepco, the owner of the plant and Japan’s largest power company, insist that the situation is under control and announced in December that the plant is now in a state of ‘cold shutdown’ allowing a cleanup operation to start.

As a result of that operation exclusion zone lines may be redrawn, allowing some former residents of the towns around Fukushima to go home. In the town of Namie more than 20,000 former residents are allowed to visit their homes once a month with special permissions but are not allowed to stay overnight.