Japan on ‘highest alert’ as Sakurajima volcano erupts

Japan ordered evacuations as molten lava streamed down the side of Sakurajima volcano, with the explosion blasting red-hot rocks 2.5kms away from the crater.

Dozens of people were urged to evacuate their homes after a fiery volcanic eruption in southern Japan as the national weather agency issued its top-level alert for the mountain.

Red hot rocks and dark, thick, billowing plumes of ash and smoke exploded from Sakurajima volcano in Kagoshima just after 8pm local time on Sunday.

While television footage showed the major tourist attraction erupt in a firey explosion, Japan’s deputy chief cabinet secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said there were no immediate reports of damage.

Live footage of Japan Meteorological Agency surveillance camera shows the Sakurajima eruption in Kagoshima prefecture. Picture: AFP

Live footage of Japan Meteorological Agency surveillance camera shows the Sakurajima eruption in Kagoshima prefecture. Picture: AFP

The chief of Japan meteorological agency volcano monitoring division, explains the eruption of Sakurajima. Picture: AFP

Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said Sunday’s blast propelled large cinders about 2.5 kilometres from the crater, while the smoke reached around 300 metres and merged with the clouds.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has instructed the government “to work closely with the local municipality to ensure damage prevention, such as through evacuations,” Isozaki told reporters.

The agency raised its alert for Sakurajima to level five, the top level, which urges evacuations.

Previously it was at level three, which bans entry to the mountain. The volcano saw four earlier eruptions between Saturday and Sunday afternoon, with the plume reaching as high as 1,200 metres.

Sakurajima is one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, with an eruption in 2019 spewing ash 5.5 km high.

Kagoshima City, looking towards a previous eruption of the active volcano on Sakurajima, Japan. Picture: Supplied

A 2013 eruption shows smoke rising from the 1,117-meter Mount Sakurajima at Kagoshima city in Japan's southern island of Kyushu. Picture: AFP

“Residential areas of Arimura town and Furusato town within three kilometres of the summit crater... of Sakurajima should be on high alert,” Tsuyoshi Nakatsuji of JMA’s Volcanic Observation Division told reporters.

According to Kagoshima City, there are 77 residents in the two towns. Nakatsuji said the JMA last week had observed the swelling of the volcano, which signals the accumulation of magma.

“But the swelling hasn’t been resolved after the latest eruption,” he said. “We’ll carefully monitor this.” Japan has scores of active volcanoes and sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire” where a large proportion of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are recorded.

Sakurajima was formerly an island, but due to previous eruptions is now attached to a peninsula.

Japan last issued the top evacuation alert for a volcano when Kuchinoerabu island, also in Kagoshima, erupted in 2015.

- with AFP

Originally published as Japan on ‘highest alert’ as Sakurajima volcano erupts