{"id":2643,"date":"2013-09-07T10:09:57","date_gmt":"2013-09-07T01:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rescuejapan.jp\/_wp\/?p=2643"},"modified":"2013-09-07T10:09:57","modified_gmt":"2013-09-07T01:09:57","slug":"google-maps-goes-underground-in-japans-radioactive-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rescuejapan.jp\/_wp\/?p=2643","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps goes \u201cunderground\u201d in Japan’s radioactive zone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

This is not a place you’d want to hang around for too long<\/p>\n

Google is producing \u201cunderground\u201d street maps of Japan\u2019s nuclear exclusion zone.<\/p>\n

The radiation levels near the Fukushima site are spiking to record levels<\/a>, but that hasn\u2019t stopped Google\u2019s StreetView from entering one area of the \u2018forbidden\u2019 zone. The images are from 17 cities within Japan\u2019s Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, which were heavily damaged by the 2011 tsunami, Memeburn reported<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

That includes the\u00a0town of\u00a0Namie-machi<\/a>, which is now deemed a radiation hazard. Google has also catalogued the interiors of over 70 flood-damaged buildings in the region. The panoramic images are an update to ones taken shortly after the disaster. Google says that it has a higher social purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur digital archiving project aims not only to make a record of the disaster\u2019s wreckage, but also to illustrate the process of Japan\u2019s recovery. Towards that goal, we\u2019ve driven our Street View cars throughout the Tohoku region again over the past months. Today we are updating the Street View imagery for 17 cities within the Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures for the first time since we\u00a0published<\/a> the first panoramas back in 2011,\u201d Google\u2019s group product manager, Kei Kawai, wrote on the team\u2019s\u00a0blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy releasing this new imagery on Google Maps, we hope people in Japan and from all around the world can virtually explore what these towns currently look like and better understand how local governments are working on rebuilding residents\u2019 homes and lives,\u201d Kawai continued.<\/p>\n

Google is not the first non-governmental entity to enter the exclusion zone. Organizations including\u00a0Animal Friends Niigata<\/a> and\u00a0HEART Tokushima<\/a> have\u00a0been working in partnership with\u00a0Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support<\/a> to save over 700 animals the Great East Japan Earthquake. Another rescue effort is planned for next week.<\/p>\n

Volunteers brave arrest and elevated levels of radiation around Fukushima, donning protective gear and carry Geiger counters. They must limit the time spent on rescue missions and dodge security to enter \u201cno-go\u201d exclusion zones.<\/p>\n

Several media outlets, including TIME have also documented<\/a> cities within the exclusion zone.<\/p>\n

(image credit: Google Maps, David Worthington)<\/em><\/p>\n

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