JAPAN-NUCLEAR-DISASTER-RECOVERY-OKUMA

This photo taken on February 15, 2023 shows a rusty municipal sign near deserted buildings in the town of Okuma, during a government-sponsored tour of the area where the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located a few kilometres away along the Pacific coast in Fukushima prefecture, ahead of the 12th anniversary of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami which hit the area and crippled the plant. - Some 11,000 residents were forced to evacuate the town of Okuma following the "Great East Japan Earthquake" and Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011. Evacuation orders were lifted in 2019 and 2022 respectively for nearly half the town, with a new town hall, commercial area and public housing built for former and new residents, with the hopes of attracting more people to the region. As of December 2022, nearly 400 residents lived in Okuma, with a government target of 4,000 by 2027. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images)