Namie was severely affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Besides sustaining considerable damage from the earthquake, and the tsunami (which devastated the coastal area), the entire population of the town was evacuated en masse on the morning of March 12 as it is located well within the exclusion radius around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It was not searched for bodies until more than one month after the tsunami.