An oceanographer warns that beachcombers on the U.S. West Coast may find shoes with human remains as more debris from last year's Japan tsunami washes ashore.
"We're expecting 100 sneakers with bones in them," Curt Ebbesmeyer told a tsunami symposium Monday.
DNA may identify people missing since the March 2011 tsunami.
"That may be the only remains that a Japanese family is ever going to have of their people that were lost," Ebbesmeyer said. "We're dealing with things that are of extreme sensitivity. Emotional content is just enormous. So be respectful."
Ebbesmeyer expects the amount of tsunami debris to peak in October, The Peninsula Daily News reported Wednesday.
Ebbesmeyer is the co-creator of the Ocean Surface Current Simulator computer model, which predicts the movement of ocean flotsam worldwide using known ocean current patterns along with wind speed and direction information provided by the U.S. Navy.
Fast-moving debris from the tsunami, including soccer balls and a shipping container holding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with Japanese license plates, has already arrived on the shores of North America.
source: Tsunami debris could bring shoes with human remains - British Columbia - CBC News
further info: Japan earthquake and tsunami debris floating towards US West Coast | Mail Online
