Island of tsunami debris heading towards US? No, says NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US recently released a map, depicting a zone wide northeast of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean as an area which might have huge concentration of debris from the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. 

Following this, a few media reports had raised concerns about the island of debris heading towards the US. The debris was referred to as “toxic monster” and “Texas-sized debris”; some reports suggested it is three times the size of Britain. Reacting to such reports, NOAA on Tuesday added a post on their marine-debris blog. “There is no solid mass of debris from Japan heading to the United States. At this point, nearly three years after the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, whatever debris remains floating is very spread out. It is spread out so much that you could fly a plane over the Pacific Ocean and not see any debris since it is spread over a huge area, and most of the debris is small, hard-to-see objects,” the blog clarified.

Here is a look at what international media had to say:

• The Independent: The toxic monster is coming! Texas-sized floating island containing one million tonnes of junk from Japan tsunami drifting towards US
• NBCNews: Tsunami debris 'island' headed for US? NOAA sets record straight
• Huffington Post: Everyone Calm Down: A Texas-Sized 'Island' Of Toxic Tsunami Debris Is Not Headed For The US
• Washington Times: Floating island of debris the size of Texas headed for U.S. shores
• Daily Mail: Island of debris the size of TEXAS from 2011 Japanese tsunami is headed straight for the U.S.
• Mirror Online: Floating island of rubbish three times size of BRITAIN floating towards California

A look at what social media had to say:

• @NOAADebris Some talk is making the rounds that there's an "island of debris" from Japan coming this way. This is myth ...there's no evidence of a mass!
• ‏@JPvanYpersele After the US election: a 51st State? No, it's not in Colorado. Guess where
• @JPMajor A "Texas-sized island of debris" headed to the west coast? Not so fast, pardner
• @latimesscience Sorry conspiracy theorists, @NOAA confirms there is no "island" of tsunami debris headed to the West Coast.
• @atotalmonet4 We thought, 'the Pacific can’t be crossed by living organisms from Japan,' and we were wrong, very wrong.
• @NOAADebris No solid mass of #debris from Japan in the Pacific

The NOAA had also released a statement on Tuesday saying “this new modeling effort gives us a better understanding of where the debris may have travelled to-date, but it does not predict where it will go in the future or how fast it will drift.”

In a report released last year, NOAA had said that concerns persist that this diverse array of floating materials—everything from boats and building rubble to appliances and consumer products—could wash up on shores in Hawaii, Alaska, the US West Coast, and Canada over the next few years.

Subscribe to Daily Newsletter :

SUPPORT US

We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.