By The Numbers: Japan Tsunami Debris Hits Oregon Coast

The Japan tsunami debris, a dock that’s landed on Newport, Oregon’s Agate Beach, is 66 feet long.

It’s 19 feet wide.

And it is 7 feet tall.

It makes people walking up to see it look like they’re both short and small!

Living on the side of the dock: at least 1 Starfish that is native only to Japan.

There is 1 sign attached to the dock. The Japanese Consulate in Portland used this to confirm the dock is from the Port of Misawa, Japan. The dock was built in 2008 and ripped away by the tsunami.

The concrete and metal dock is packed with styrofoam underneath so it would float. And float it did: it traveled approximately 4,961 miles (this is a definite ‘estimate’ since we don’t know the exact path).

How long did it take the Japanese tsunami debris to make that journey? Well, the tsunami pulled it out to sea on March 11, 2011. And it reached the beach in Newport, Oregon on Monday June 4, 2012. That is a 450 day trip. Wow.

This is just the start of the debris we’ll see hit Oregon (and Washington) beaches. And if you do a google search you’ll see this Japan tsunami dock made headlines around the world.

I think most of us still cannot believe how powerful mega-quakes and tsunamis can be. And how far reaching the impacts become long after the intitial event.