The Lingering Distaster

Given the vast amount of devasation caused by the tsunami this is a sidenote that will take years before it impacts North America.

From Good...

The earthquakes, tsunami, and nuclear power crisis in Japan have been devastating. But there is, unfortunately, yet another dimension to this multi-faceted disaster: The massive 9.0 earthquake created a bunch of debris and the ensuing wave washed a lot of it out to sea. Those bits of buildings, household things, trees, tires, and other fragments of civilization are heading out across the Pacific and will eventually hit Hawaii and the west coast.

The International Pacific Research Center has created a model of how the debris is expected to travel, to aid in tracking it and cleaning it up. The first wave of debris is predicted to hit Hawaii within a year. Then it will hit Vancouver and the rest of the west coast of North America [in three years], before heading back to Hawaii.