Efforts are ramping up to gather Japanese tsunami debris from B.C.’s shoreline this month.
The District of Ucluelet is getting more than $80,000 and dozens of volunteers to help cleanup an area spanning 100 kilometres of coastline, the B.C. government announced Friday.
The Ucluelet and Barkley Sound Shoreline Cleanup Program will focus on priority accessible and remote areas, including the Broken Islands, Pacific Rim National Park and along the Yuulu’il’ath territory.
In addition, around 70 volunteers from the Japan Love Project and the International Student Association will be conducting a cleanup from March 8 to 12, three years after the devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.
The student-run Japan Love Project was created to raise funds to aid recovery efforts after the earthquake and tsunami.
Through volunteer work and donation boxes placed in Japanese stores in Vancouver, the organization has donated more than $328,000 to Japan.
This will be the second year volunteers will participate in a cleanup on the anniversary of the March 11 disaster.
“In deep consideration of the beautiful Canadian nature and its circle of life and eco system, we would like to pick up all sorts of debris along the coast line of Pacific Rim National Park and the Broken Islands,” the Japan Love Project said in a release.
“By cleaning up the debris, we hope to show our appreciation to the Canadian communities who have given much needed support during the disaster.”
The Japanese community and government has been very active in helping manage tsunami debris. A year ago, Japan donated $1 million to Canada to fund clean-up efforts.
“We applaud the honourable spirit of the people of Japan for their support and assistance with cleanup initiatives, and will make every effort to return recovered personal or sensitive driftage material to the people of Japan,” said Karla Robison, Ucluelet’s manager of environmental and emergency services.
Ucluelet has conducted several cleanup programs over the last two years and there will be more to come.
The tsunami washed an estimated five million tonnes of debris into the ocean. Since leaving the coast of Japan, about 70 per cent of the debris sank, leaving around 1.5 million tonnes headed for B.C.
Although the amount of debris to wind up in B.C. has been less than anticipated, items including a motorcycle, large storage tanks, fishing boats and smaller items continue to wash up on the coast.
Large collections of debris or significant objects should be reported to DisasterDebris@noaa.gov.
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