Still smoking

August 14, 2014

Volcano in Kyushu still smoking; town remains on alert

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201408140002

By TAKAYUKI KOZAKI/ Staff Writer

YAKUSHIMA, Kagoshima Prefecture--Smoke continues to billow out of a large, deep crack created by the volcanic eruption of Mount Shindake on Kuchinoerabujima island earlier this month.

Photos taken by The Asahi Shimbun on Aug. 12 showed a forest withered in ash and discolored by gas below the new crack on the southwestern side of the crater. Cinders were scattered around the side of the mountain, which lies west of the World Heritage site of Yakushima island.

The Aug. 3 eruption of Mount Shindake was the first in 34 years.

Smoke was also rising from other locations, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Fukuoka Regional Headquarters.

All of the JMA’s seismographs near the crater were destroyed within seconds or minutes of the eruption. JMA officials say the devices may have been directly hit by cinders or other ejected matter.

The alert level for the area within a 2-kilometer radius of the crater remains at 3 on the scale of 5, meaning entry to the area is restricted.

The town government of Yakushima, which administers the volcanic island, has urged all 135 residents on Kuchinoerabujima to remain alert and prepare for a possible evacuation in the event the cinders or pyroclastic flows reach their homes.