Minamisōma is about 25 km north of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Much of the city is in the area near the plant where people should not live. Most people in the city had to leave. About a week after the earthquake, Minamisōma was in the news again as the town's mayor Katsunobu Sakarai complained about orders telling people still near the plant to stay in their homes. He said they had been 'abandoned'.