The Sakurajima volcano has been blasting rock into the sky that has landed 1.5 miles away (Picture: AP)
Japan’s Prime Minister has ordered officials to take action to save lives after a volcanic eruption on the country’s major western island of Kyushu.
Evacuations are underway, with the eruption alert level being raised to the country’s highest level of 5.
There were reports of stones being spewed out of Sakurajima volcano and coming down to earth 2.5 km (1.5 miles) away, NHK public television said.
The volcano is one of Japan’s most active and eruptions of varying levels take place on a regular basis. In 2019, it spewed ash 5.5 km (3.4 miles) high.
Video footage from today’s eruption showed what appeared to be a red mass flowing down one side of the volcano, with red projectiles shooting out as smoke billowed into the night sky.
Deputy chief cabinet secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said: ‘We will put the people’s lives first and do our utmost to assess the situation and respond to any emergency.’
The eruption happened at around 8.05pm (12.05pm British time), the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
{“@context”:”https://schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”name”:”Metro.co.uk”,”duration”:”T9S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/24/14/60634165-0-image-a-35_1658669415207.jpg”,”uploadDate”:”2022-07-24T14:29:05+0100″,”description”:”Japan’s Prime Minister has ordered officials to take action to save lives after a volcano erupted on the country’s major western island of Kyushu.nnEvacuations have begun, with the eruption alert level being raised to the country’s highest level of 5.”,”contentUrl”:”https://videos.metro.co.uk/video/met/2022/07/24/2140699847751779929/480x270_MP4_2140699847751779929.mp4″,”height”:270,”width”:480}
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
An aerial file photo of Mount Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes (Picture: Reuters)
It added that about 120 residents in two towns were told to evacuate.
The agency warned of falling volcanic rock in areas within 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) of the crater, as well possible lava and ash flows and searing gas within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles).
There have been no immediate reports of damage and two hours after the eruption, a government spokesperson said they had not heard of any damage either.
Most of the city of Kagoshima is across the bay from the volcano but several residential areas are within about 3 km (1.9 miles) of the crater – and NHK said they may be ordered to evacuate.
exclusive
'Break down barriers' preventing Black and Asian people learning to swim
Japan’s nuclear regulators said on Sunday that no irregularities had been detected at the Sendai nuclear power plant, which is located some 50 km (31 miles) northwest of Sakurajima.
Officials at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office are said to be gathering information about the situation as it develops.
The mountain used to be an island but became a peninsula following an eruption in 1914.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected]
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : ‘This has tested us’ How Tonga is trying to recover from volcanic eruption
