Japan Tsunami Debris Update: As Predicted, Here It Comes....

Mapquest

 

As noted on this blog in late February, researchers have been predicting the arrival of significant amounts of debris on Pacific island and North American shores from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of last year (see: Monitoring the 2011 Japan Tsunami Debris Field).  Over the weekend, the popular press began reporting that a few fast moving harbingers of that invasion have started arriving.  As denoted by number #1 on the map above, late last week a Transport Canada patrol aircraft spotted a 165-foot long "ghost" Japanese fishing boat adrift approximately 150 miles west of the southern tip of Haida Gwaii Island, B.C.  That news followed discovery of numerous small items of debris along the U.S. coast near Long Beach, Washington (#2) a week earlier.  To read these stories, click the links below:

• Tsunami-linked Fishing Boat Adrift Off B.C.
• Suspected Tsunami Debris Washes Up On Long Beach Peninsula

 

Comment:  In an encouraging development, on March 12th, the Province of British Columbia, and the States of Washington, Oregon, and California, agreed to coordinate their response efforts to this onslaught of floating disaster debris.  By that action, they took the most critical step any disaster responders can take: They started working together before bad things start to happen.