A violent volcanic eruption in Japan forced the evacuation of an island yesterday, as a huge column of ash shot high into the sky.
Video footage by the Japan Meteorological Agency captured the moment the plume rocketed from Mount Shindake on the far southern island of Kuchinoerabu.
The black cloud reached as high as 9,000m, the agency said, and was accompanied by a five-minute volcanic quake.
Photo: Reuters
Television pictures showed the after-effects of the pyroclastic flow, which had cascaded down the mountainside toward one of the island’s harbors.
Grey ash blanketed the breakwaters and discolored the sea.
The volcano continued to belch steam throughout the day as a dusting of white ash settled on mountain peaks, giving them a winter-like appearance.
The Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency said it had accounted for all of the nearly 140 inhabitants, with one elderly man having suffered a minor facial injury and another feeling nauseous.
Residents were evacuated to a nearby island aboard coast guard boats and a ferry, officials said.
A woman who was airlifted out by helicopter told reporters the eruption had been frighteningly powerful.
“The sky turned completely dark and there was a thunderous roar and then I heard a boom,” she said.
Community leader Nobuaki Hayashi told public broadcaster NHK that the eruption, which happened at about 10am, had blocked out the morning light.
“Dark smoke rose quite high, I couldn’t tell how high, but it became dark outside,” he told the network.
The volcano has been under observation since an eruption last year, with a 2km exclusion zone in force, but volcanologists yesterday rapidly raised the alert level to five — the highest on the scale — triggering the evacuation order.
“A volcanic eruption occurred at Shindake at 9:59am. Along with this eruption, a pyroclastic flow reached the coastline” of the island, the weather agency said.
Sadayuki Kitagawa, director of the volcanology division at the agency, said the danger was not over.
“It’s possible that eruptions of a similar scale could happen in the future. We are warning residents about pyroclastic flows, and asking people to obey evacuation instructions,” he told a press conference.
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