A new eight-part Netflix drama explores the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.
Thousands of people had to be evacuated from their homes after the power plant leaked radioactive substances into the air and sea. Eight-parter The Days stars Yakusho Koji as a character modelled after Masao Yoshida, the plant manager at Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
The drama explores the catastrophe from three different points of view - those who put their lives at risk, the government and the corporate organisations. The disaster has been compared to Chernobyl, which happened in the Soviet Union in 1986.
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Fukushima's nuclear disaster was triggered by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami. Thousands of people tragically lost their lives during the natural disasters.
The earthquake occurred in March 2011, off the country's main island, Honshu. The strongest earthquake ever recorded in the country, it lasted for around six minutes.
It then caused a huge tsunami, with waves up to 46 feet high damaging the nuclear power plant's emergency diesel generators. This lead to a loss of power, which meant the cooling system failed in three of its reactors.
Within days, subsequently, their cores overheated and a build up of pressure caused explosions and a fire. Radiation leaked into the atmosphere and some 110,000 residents had to be evacuated from their homes.
The earthquake and tsunami caused devastating damage, with 120,000 homes completely destroyed and more than a million half or partially wrecked. In total, 19,759 people died.
A further 6,167 were injured. The great majority of those killed overall were drowning victims of the tsunami waves. In addition, more than half of the victims were age 65 years or older, according to Britannica.
However there has only been one reported death from the Fukushima disaster. One worker died from lung cancer caused by radiation, four years after the catastrophe.
A further 2,202 people lost their lives after being evacuated from their homes in the area, but none of these deaths are thought to be related to radiation. Hospital patients and elderly people at nursing facilities were among those who died, from causes including hypothermia, deterioration of underlying medical problems and dehydration.
In mid-April of 2011, the severity of the nuclear emergency had been increased from level five to level seven, placing it in the same category as the 1986 Chernobyl incident. That December, the plant was finally stabilised.
Twelve years on, Japanese authorities continue to maintain some exclusion zones around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility.
The Days is available to stream now on Netflix.
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