TOKYO, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The Japanese town of Naraha lifted a 2011 evacuation order Saturday, the first since the nearby Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melted down as a result of a devastating tsunami.
Naraha is the first of seven cities surrounding the power plant in Fukushima Prefecture that has been cleared for repopulation since the triple-reactor meltdown in March 2011. At a small ceremony, Japanese officials tried to encourage residents to move back to the town, which once had a population of 7,368. A recent government survey said some 46 percent hoped to return.