Washed-up boat in California confirmed as Japanese tsunami debris

On April 7^th, a 20 foot fishing boat, crusted with barnacles and somewhat worse for wear, washed ashore in the small town of Crescent City, in northern California. Its arrival on US shores prompted an investigation to match this lost and lonely fishing boat to its owner, and, just three weeks later, it was confirmed that this particular panga was a long way from home, and is in fact the first debris from Japan’s devastating 2011 tsunami to find its way across the Pacific Ocean to Californian shores.

It seems that social media played an important role in the locating of the vessel’s home town. Upon hearing about the boat washing up in Crescent City, Lori Dengler, a geologist at the Humboldt State University, translated the Japanese characters which adorned the sides of the fishing boat with the help of a University librarian. The handwritten characters translated to ‘Takata High School’, and ‘Rikuzentakata’, a coastal town in northern Japan which was all but wiped out by the tsunami. Without further delay, Dengler, who had in fact travelled to Rikuzentakata shortly after the tsunami, posted photos of the boat to Rikuzentakata’s Facebook page, and within hours, a teacher at the Takata High School had identified the boat as belonging to the school.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed the boat’s origin on Thursday, after conferring with the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco. But the fishing boat is not the first piece of debris which has been traced back to Rikuzentakata. A football with a student’s name on it was recently found washed up on an Alaska island, and was also identified as having travelled from the Japanese town. Keeley Belva, a spokesperson for the NOAA, said “As of 4 April, NOAA has received approximately 1,691 official debris reports, of which we have been able to confirm that 27 items are definite tsunami debris as of today. The skiff is the first confirmed item for California.” Other confirmed items include a small boat found in Hawaii waters, and a motorcycle washed up on the shores of British Columbia.

Rikuzentakata was reported to have been “wiped off the map” by the tsunami following the Tōhoku earthquake. Hundreds of its citizens died in the disaster, and just a handful of buildings were left standing in the coastal town. Two years on, the town is still being rebuilt, and the effects of the tsunami are felt every day. Amya Miller, the city’s global public relations officer, reflects on the sentimental value of the washed-up school boat: “Everything that was lost, we just never expected to find again. That something made it across the Pacific and landed practically on your doorstep is one of those ‘you can’t make it up moments…that something made it across the ocean is beautiful. It’s absolutely beautiful.”

Takata High School has requested the boat be returned to them. Miller said of the request “Having it back would be incredibly meaningful only because the school lost so much – the city lost so much.” Discussions are currently taking place to determine the best way to return the boat to its hometown.

Sources include The Huffington Post, The Guardian

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Nuclear plant on fault line causes fears of Fukushima repeat

The last remaining nuclear power plant still in operation in Japan since March 2011 could be situated above an active fault line in the earth’s crust, warns a Japanese geologist, risking a Fukushima-scale disaster.

Mitsuhisa Watanabe is a tectonic geomorphologist and one-fifth of a five man team charged by the Nuclear Regulation Authority with the task of investigating the tectonic landscape beneath the nuclear plant in Oi, Fukui Prefecture, the only plant to have resumed operation since last year’s nuclear disaster in Fukushima.

Watanabe’s research strongly suggests that the plant, including important water pipe equipment for half of the plant’s nuclear reactors, is located above an active seismic fault.

The geologist, along with other experts on the panel, have determined that the underground structure on which the plant stands has showed movement as long ago as 125,000 years. Watanabe suggests that this underground movement is due to faultline activity, and has called for the plant to cease operation immediately until further research has been carried out, concerned that failure to do so could result in a repeat of Fukushima, the tsunami-triggered nuclear meltdown that left hundreds of thousands of people without homes. “We are not seeking to decommission the plant,” Watanabe said. “We should first stop operation and then carry out underground investigation thoroughly before reaching a conclusion.”

Whilst it is against government regulations to run a nuclear plant under an active fault line (where ‘active’ is classed as any seismic fault that has shifted in the past 130,000 years), the plant is still in operation. Watanabe claims that the line has showed activity in the past 130,000 years, though other members of the team are reluctant to close the plant, suggesting instead that the land scarring is due to nothing more than a past landslide, rather than any seismic activity. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology researcher Norio Shigematsu has cautioned jumping to any conclusion until more experts are consulted.

The experts may remain in disagreement, but the several thousand protesters that joined together in Tokyo’s government district this Sunday spoke with a different voice, as shouts of “No need to wait for the panel’s finding! We must stop the Oi plant now!” could be heard outside parliament. After the Japanese government’s declaration in September of their plans to phase out nuclear power in Japan by 2040, the issue of nuclear power and public safety has never been so important.

Watanabe is keen that seismologists do not underestimate the possible effects of future earthquakes. “We have to sound the alarm as soon as we find the possibility of active faults,” he said. “The accident in Fukushima had really never been imagined. Scientists must learn from that.”

Sources include Japan Today

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More tsunami debris washed ashore America’s West Coast

Debris from the tragic 2011 tsunami in Japan has hit the west coast of North America, a year earlier than expected. Since April this year, bays along the coast in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California have received painful reminders of the Japanese tragedy, in the form of bottles, polystyrene, fishing ropes, and even a Harley Davidson.

Three months ago a 20m concrete dock was found in Newport completely in tact. It is thought that it had been washed across 3,500 miles of ocean from Tokyo Bay. Locals are sensitive to the memories such arrivals evokes for Japan. In the tsunami last year more than 15,000 people died and whole villages were dragged out into the ocean. One American said, “[the debris is] a reminder of what happened, so it’s not just trash. It was people’s belongings and people’s livelihoods and people’s homes.”

A glimmer of light has however been seen in the kind acts of the people who have attempted to return property found in amongst the debris back to its owners in Japan. Two volunteers involved in the clear-up, David and Yumi Baxter found a football and volleyball with names written on them in Alaska, and were able to send them back to their teenage owners in Japan. Similarly, when a Harley Davidson was found in a container in British Columbia, a person who had seen it in the press used the registration plate to locate its Japanese owner.

Volunteers, from surfers to students to pensioners, are working along the American coast to clear the debris but are bracing themselves for more in the next few weeks as the winter storms begin to hit. The worst is yet to come however, as the bulk of the debris is still north of Hawaii. Larger amounts are expect to reach the West Coast next year.

As well as the emotions induced by the debris, there are also practical concerns about radioactivity in the debris. Although none has yet been detected, this remains a fear among many. Volunteers can alert rangers if they find debris that they do not want to touch.

The major concern for residents of the West Coast however is the prospect of a similar tsunami disaster striking there. Despite the 5,000 miles of ocean between them, Oregon and Japan have a shared geology. The coast has, historically, been victim to several earthquakes that have caused giant waves. Chris Havel of Oregon Parks and Recreation Service said that the next earthquake could leave Oregonians “susceptible to the same sort of tragedy that struck Japan“. Tsunami evacuation safety procedures are currently in place in Oregon, as set out by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.

Sources include: The Huffington Post, BBC News

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Mount Fuji: A sleeping menace?

Japan’s most famous landmark, Mount Fuji, is at a greater risk of erupting since last year’s catastrophic earthquake, official sources suggest.

And what’s more, the Japanese government currently has no official plan of action constructed to deal with such an event, revealed Toshitsugu Fujii, newly-posted head of a Japanese disaster response task force at Mount Fuji. Whilst more than a year has passed since the 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and nuclear meltdown which it triggered on March 11, 2011, the government is still in the process of constructing a disaster response plan, despite strong evidence to suggest that last year’s disasters have increased the likelihood of the volcano, which last erupted in 1707, coming back to life with a terrifying bang.

The Great East Japan Earthquake triggered a series of tremors, including a 6.4 magnitude aftershock directly below Mount Fuji, which put a 20 metre-long crack in its side, increasing the pressure in the volcano’s magma chamber. Researchers at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention have been analysing the effects of the tectonic movements caused by the 2011 earthquake, estimating that Mount Fuji’s magma chamber currently experiencing atmospheric pressures of 15.8 kilograms per square centimetre. It takes as little as 0.1 megapascals of pressure to trigger a volcanic eruption. Mount Fuji clocks in at 1.6 megapascals. Numerous examples of volcanoes erupting following a 9.0 magnitude earthquake have been recorded, including Chile, Sumatra and Kamchatka. Should Fuji erupt, its effects could be felt as far away as Tokyo, over 100 miles away. So why isn’t a disaster response strategy of higher priority?

It may be that a cleft in the Japanese government is hindering progress in this area. Within the Japanese bureaucracy, the teams charged with creating disaster prevention and response plans for potential earthquakes, work separately to those dealing with volcanic eruptions. Without any concrete evidence confirming Mount Fuji’s imminent volcanic eruption, these teams remain divided as to whose responsibility this case is.

Local communities are loath to discuss the threat, concerned that media attention will impact upon tourism. A book published in 1983 wrongfully warning of an imminent eruption was blamed for driving tourists away and causing a $3 million loss in revenues for a prefecture bordering the volcano.

But despite resistance, it seems that Mount Fuji’s eruption is a possibility which cannot be ruled out. It may have been 300 years since its last activity, but if recent evidence is to be believed, Mount Fuji quietly remains a very real threat to Japan.

Sources include Reuters, Bangkok Post

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Report on Radiation Released as Japan Switches Off Last Working Nuclear Reactor

14 Months After Triple Catastrophe in Japan: Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Disaster:

A preliminary report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) published this Wednesday has indicated that radiation levels in most of Japan are low. This news comes a year after the Fukushima accident, which led to pressure on the government to switch off all nuclear reactors in Japan. On 5^th May 2012 Japan switched off its last remaining nuclear reactor, leaving the country without nuclear-derived electricity for the first time in over 40 years.

The WHO report follows the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake which caused a 13-15m tsunami that flooded the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station. After the plant’s cooling systems failed, blasts occurred at four of the reactors, triggering radiation leaks. Thousands of people were evacuated from the surrounding area.

Now, one year on from the disasters, the WHO report has found that Namie town and Itate village, near the Fukushima plant, are currently exposed to radiation doses of 10-50 millisieverts (mSv). This is up to 20 times the normal background radiation level, although it remains within the WHO’s recommended emergency limits. However, in some areas of Namie, infants were estimated to have gotten a dose as high as 200mSv in the thyroid, where radiation can build up in the body.

By comparison, the rest of Fukushima is exposed to radiation doses of 1-10 mSv in the and most of Japan as a whole sees radiation levels of 0.1-1mSv. This is within the limits of the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

Not a lot is known about the potential long-term health effects of continued exposure to radiation below 100mSv a year. Cumulative exposure to 100 mSv is said however to raise the risk of death from cancer slightly (by 0.5 percent), according to Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Sciences.

Recently Japan’s trade minister, Yukio Edano, has been trying to win public support to restart two switched-off reactors at the country’s Ohi nuclear plant. This is an attempt to help ease expected power shortages of nearly 20% this summer. It remains to be seen whether this proposal for reactivation will go ahead. It is currently being considered by the Japanese government, although it seems unlikely to gain public approval.

The WHO is currently waiting for a second report on radiation levels this summer.