Japan maintains level 3 alert after Mount Aso eruption

October 23, 2021

1 minute read

So far there have been no injuries or material damage.

Photo: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / Getty Images

Two days after the initial eruption, authorities in Japan maintain a level 3 (out of 5) alert in the regions near Mount Aso, one of the most active volcanoes in Asia and the first in Japan. During the last hours the volcano has expelled a column of volcanic material that exceeds 3,500 meters in height, but without causing any damage so far.

The Executive Vice-spokesman, Yoshihiko Isozaki, reported this Friday that when the initial eruption was generated on Wednesday There were 16 mountaineers climbing Mount Aso, but they were successfully evacuated and none were injured.

“We continue to ask for maximum caution due to the risk of falling volcanic rocks and pyroplastic flows in an area of 2 kilometers around the volcano ”, Isozaki pointed out. He also reported volcanic material on the roads and highways in the area, which the authorities have already begun to remove.

Although no lava flows have been seen coming out of the main cone of Mount Aso, the Japan Meteorological Agency indicated that the activity under the volcano “is constant” and that it has not diminished since Wednesday.

The cameras installed by this body in front of the volcano show how it continues to expel a column of smoke this Friday, after the striking images of the day before in which huge clouds of ash could be seen.

Mount Aso, about 1,600 meters high, is located in a sparsely populated area on the island of Kyushu, southwest of the Japanese archipelago.

Japan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has about 110 active volcanoes in its territory, according to the JMA definition, which considers “active” any volcano that “has erupted in the last 10,000 years or where fumaroles have recently been recorded.”

With information from The truth and EFE.