The Sakurajima volcano, one of the most active in Japan, has erupted in the southern island of Kyushu. Television footage shows lava flow and ash being released from the volcano. Some areas near the city of Kagoshima have been evacuated. The alert level has been raised to 5, the highest.
With our correspondent in Japan, Frederic Charles
Located a thousand kilometers southwest of Tokyo, the Sakurajima volcano has been erupting since Sunday July 24. The televisions broadcast images of glowing projections of stones and ashes. The first explosion propelled ash 2.5 km from the crater. It was followed by three more eruptions. The volcanic plume rose to an altitude of 1,200 meters above the volcano. The Japanese Meteorological Agency observed an accumulation of magma last week. The swelling of the volcano was not absorbed after the first eruption.
The volcano remains under close surveillance. Other pyroclastic flows, a mixture of gas, ash and stone fragments, are possible. At the moment, experts do not expect a massive eruption.
No damage was immediately reported, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said.
Evacuation ordered
Culminating at 117 meters, the volcano is about fifty kilometers from the Sendai nuclear power plant, which has two reactors. The electricity company Kyushu Electric does not see any impact of the eruption on the plant’s installations. Within a three kilometer radius of the crater, sparsely populated residential areas are on high alert. Kagoshima authorities ordered the evacuation of 50 people.
Placed on the “Pacific ring of fire”, at the junction of four tectonic plates, Japan has 110 active volcanoes (7% of which are submarine) and experiences, each year, 20% of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in the world. the world.
Sakurajima means “Cherry Island”. It was once an island before repeated eruptions attached it to a peninsula. The last time Japan issued the maximum evacuation alert for a volcano was when Kuchinoerabu Island erupted in 2015.