[2] As of March 2011, the entire population was evacuated as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Town records indicate that over 700 residents of the region died due to a tsunami in the 1611 Sanriku earthquake.

Futaba 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 well within the 20 km (12 mi) exclusion radius around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

[5] On March 28, 2013, the central government rezoned the town into two areas according to level of radiation: in the first, people were free to go in and out but not allowed to stay overnight; in the second, all entry was forbidden because of elevated radiation levels that were not expected to go down within five years after the accident.

[7] As of 2017, the Japanese government is leading a cleanup of the town, aiming for 11 percent to be livable by spring 2022.