Volcanic eruption in South-Japanese Island

Earlier today, a volcanic eruption rattled the small island of Kuchinoerabu in Japan. The Kuchinoerabu Island is one of the Satsunan Islands and is usually classed with the Osumi islands. It is 50 miles southwest of the main island of Kyushu. The island is basically a national park supported mainly by tourism and fishing. As soon as the volcano erupted, a thunderous sound could be heard and a huge amount of dust and ash were released into the sky. According to island official, Nobuaki Hayashi, a huge bang was heard throughout the island and black smoke was seen rising from the volcano as residents were gathered with boxes and bags in order to be evacuted.”

Momentarily, the citizens were also told to evacuate the island for security reasons. The authorities confirmed that there was no one injured after the volcano erupted at around 10:00 a.m. “It sounded like dynamite had exploded, and the house shook,” one resident told TV Asahi.

Just after the eruption, dense pyroclastic flows of rock and hot gases were sent towards the sea. The Japan Met agency had already issued a warning for the eruption and raised the alert level to five for it. Due to this, the preparations for evacuation were made in time. After the eruptions, a military helicopter was sent to the location to assess the damage and conduct survey of the adjoining land. The Japanese Coast guard also carried out evacuation operations in the region.  As a safety measure, a number of flights have been rerouted and diverted in order to dodge the smoke and ash which could cause serious problems to the aircrafts.

A clear video of the eruption was shot on camera by the NHK which showed the ash and smoke being hurled up in the sky clearly. Japan’s location is quite apt when it comes to volcanoes and earthquakes. It sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions take place due to geographical reasons.

The Kuchinoerabu-jima Island is well known for its scenic beauty and tourist attractions. One other reason that there were no reported injuries might be because the population of the island stands at 147 which made it very easy to initiate the evacuation processes.

The Shinmoedake volcano is a part of the Mount Kirishima cluster of volcanoes and is believed to have formed between 7,300 to 25,000 years ago. It is also known for its previous eruptions in 1716, 1717, 1771, 1822, 1959, 1991, 2008, 2009 and 2011.