Damir Sagolj/Reuters
Hundreds of thousands of residents living within 12 miles of the plant were evacuated. Some residents, not wanting leave their homes, chose to stay in the abandoned areas.
Since the disaster, the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the Daiichi Plant, have taken on one of the largest and most ambitious clean up efforts ever.
Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj returned to the evacuated towns last month to capture what happens to a place after a catastrophic disaster.