- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Top Alert Issued Over Major Volcanic Eruption in Southern Japan

© AP Photo / Minami-Nippon Shimbun via Kyodo NewsKuchinoerabu-jima
Kuchinoerabu-jima - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a level 5 alert, the highest possible, over the eruption of the Shindake volcano on the southern island of Kuchinoerabu-jima, belonging to the Kagoshima Prefecture.

TOKYO (Sputnik) – At about 10 a.m. local time (01:00 a.m. GMT) on Friday, the meteorological agency’s cameras captured the volcano spitting out black smoke and ash, with the plume rising dozens of meters up into the air. The meteorologists also reported that a pyroclastic flow of heated gas and rock flowed down the side of the volcano, reaching the ocean.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, however, the authorities were considering an evacuation of all of the island’s residents, according to local reports.

About 140 people live on the remote Kuchinoerabu-jima island the area of which is roughly 38 square kilometers (15 square miles). The island can only be reached by boat or ferry, which runs between Kuchinoerabu-jima and Yakushima Island.

Emergency headquarters were set up at the crisis center of the office of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in connection with the Shindake volcano eruption on Kuchinoerabu-jima.

Several people were killed as a result of the largest volcanic eruption on Kuchinoerabu-jima in December, 1933.

Japan, which is home to 7 percent of the world’s volcanoes, has seen an upsurge in volcanic activity in recent months. Scientists fear that this could lead to the eruption of the Mount Fuji volcano located on Japan’s highest mountain.

The increase in the number of eruptions also raises concerns as Japan has not yet completed the radioactive cleanup process following the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which saw half of its reactors going into meltdown as a result of a massive tsunami triggered by an offshore earthquake.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала