11 Things Found After Japanese Tsunami
Some of the craziest things will wash up after a big storm like an entire yacht on top of a building and soccer ball across the country!
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6. A
Japanese Dock
This piece of debris happened to be part of a Japanese dock that was torn from its moorings during the tsunami and washed up on
the shores of Oregon and brought back what researchers believe to be about
100 tons of sea life.
Scientists from the
Oregon State University state that the 66-foot-long deck has around 13 pounds of organisms per square foot. The dock did not show any signs of radiation from the
Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown caused by the tsunami, but it did pose the threat of carrying invasive species. What that means is that these creatures that aren’t natives to the area could potentially throw the local ecosystems out of whack and cause irreparable damage to the native wildlife, such as the dread zebra mussel.
5. A
Mystery Creature
There have been some unusual things that have washed up on random shores after tsunamis, this being one of them. After the
2011 tsunami hit, this giant white mass had been washed out onto the shore of
Japan and had many of the locals, along with everyone who watched this video on YouTube, wondering what it even was? Some thought it to be a brand new creature that had risen from the dark depths of the ocean floor while others speculated it was merely a large rock or boulder.
Don’t worry, officials have concluded that this isn’t some new species that’s going to wipe us out. They simply stated that it’s most likely just a mass of whale blubber from the carcass of a dead whale that’s pretty much unrecognizable.
4. A
Shipping Tote
Back in November of 2014, this shipping tote had washed up near the shores of
Seal Rock in
Oregon. This 4-by-5 foot plastic shipping tote had been floating out at sea for the last 3 years since the tsunami struck and amassed around
200 blue mussels that were attached to it. Like the dock that was found in
2012, this tote was a potential host for carrying invasive species and scientist eventually determined it as a non-threat to the surrounding environment. Still, the amount of debris, the total estimated to be around 18.11 million tons with 70 percent of the debris sinking to the bottom of the ocean, is still rather high and is still washing up years after that tragic event took place.
3.
Various Trash
A barge from the fishing town of
Ucluelet in
British Columbia had carried in around “super sacks” of debris caused by the tsunami. Those sacks are designed to hold up to 1,
000 pounds, so you can only imagine how heavy all that weight could possibly be.
Ever since the tsunami struck, there have been volunteer pickups in the town where local and Japanese students have gotten involved. They’ve managed to collect all different sorts of garbage such as styrofoam, pieces of
Japanese houses, and other debris. Though they’ve made progress, their results haven’t been achieved through smooth sailing. The coastline of Ucluelet is described as remote and rugged which made the cleanups very difficult and the fact that there was already debris unrelated to the tsunami already there makes for even more trash than expected.
2. An Entire
Ship
This yacht happened to be discovered in the
Iwate Prefecture in
Northeastern Japan in the town of Otsuchi nearly two months after the tsunami had hit. The ship weighs in at an incredible 200 tons and it’s a huge surprise that the two-story building that is supporting all that weight is still somehow managing to keep from collapsing.
It’s hard to even process the amount of force needed to lift the ship.
1.
A House
As one of the most powerful and deadly disasters that can occur in nature, the tsunami is one that leaves devastation in its wake. Their sheer force can only be imagined by those who have never witnessed what it can be capable of at first hand and even then you can never come close to doing it justice. Take for example this house that was a part of the Fukushima debris. This was someone’s entire home where they built a life for themselves around it and in a matter of moments, it was swept off its foundation and carried out into the sea, along with what is estimated to be another 200,000 buildings.