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Thursday, 28th July 2016
In General Japan News,
Mount Sakruajima erupts in impressive style
When Mount Sakruajima erupted this week, the scenes were incredible, with smoke billowing 5,000 metres into the air, lightning cracking the atmosphere and lava flowing down the volcano’s sides.
For the past three years, there has been little visible activity from the 1,117-metre mountain, which sits on the shores of a bay on the southern island of Kyushu.
This is despite the fact it is known to be one of the most active volcanoes in the world, and as such, has been closely monitored since the eighth century.
The eruption occurred at 12.02am local time on Tuesday (July 26th), when the volcano’s Showa crater sparked into life.
Although the scenes were dramatic, no casualties have been reported and the Japan Meteorological Agency has put a level three alert in place and advised people to stay away from the area.
A similar eruption at Mount Sakruajima occurred in 2013 when 5,000 metres of ash and debris was seen and damage was evident on properties, but nobody was hurt.
Due to the fact that Japan is located on the Ring of Fire – a zone of extreme crustal instability – there are a large number of active volcanoes throughout the country.
Mount Sakruajima’s explosion marks the 47th volcanic eruption in Japan so far this year, but highlights how the situation can be managed and tragedy averted in a nation used to such occurrences.
Smoke and debris from the volcano is continuing to spill forth at the same rate as when it started, showing no signs of when it might stop.
Mount Sakruajima is located just eight kilometres from the city of Kagoshima, which has a population of around half a million.
Aside from ash deposits, the people remain relatively unaffected by the eruption.
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