Women farmers work side by side to clean up tusnami debris in a farmland in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture.
Some 80 women farmers stand in a long line to pick up debris on a field. They are members of the regional agriculture restoration cooperative in Odaka district of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture which was seriously hit by the March 2011 tsunami.
Two years and eight months after the disaster, there are still 232 members, including those in their 80s, in the cooperative which was established to support people who hope to start farming again.
Since the district is within the evacuation zone surrounding the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant and staying in the area overnight is prohibited, the restoration work can be done only in daytime. Cars swept away by tsunami and broken utility poles remain on the fields, making the restoration work even more difficult.
Although it is still unclear when they can return home, the members have not given up hope. “Odaka is in such a situation, but it is our only hometown,” said 73-year-old Setsuko Takeuchi.
An agricultural cooperative in Soma is supporting the members through such activities as weeding.
(Nov. 12, 2013)