Explosive volcanic eruption on island in Japan sparks evacuations

Evacuation orders were issued to all residents and holiday makers following the sudden and explosive eruption of Mount Shindake on Kuchinoerabu Island off Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan on Friday morning.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the eruption occurred at 9:59 a.m. local time in Japan from the mountain's crater which sits 650 meters above sea level and also warned that pyroclastic flows following the violent eruption of the volcano had reached the shore.

The force of the eruption sent plumes of smoke and ash billowing from the crater and reaching as high as 9 kilometers into the air, causing air traffic controllers to issue emergency guidance to planes flying in the area, due to risks of diminished pilot visibility and the potential for further eruptions, said the agency.

All 137 people residing on or visiting the island were ordered to evacuate, the Japanese government said, as the JMA raised its volcano warning level to 5, its highest level, as a result of the eruption, which marked the second time that Mt. Shindake has erupted in the last nine months, with the volcano last erupting in August 2014, spewing large rocks hundreds of meters in the air, having not blown its top in the last 34 years.

Ferries and the coast guard have arrived at the small island to evacuate the affected to neighboring Yakushima, a renown World Heritage site, according to local reports.

As of noon Friday the safety of all 137 residents of the island was confirmed by local authorities, although an elderly man reportedly received burns to his forehead, local authorities and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he intends to ensure that the safety of those in the vicinity of the volcano is prioritized and for emergency personnel and local officials to do their utmost to protect human lives.

The office of the prime minister set up an emergency response team at its dedicated crisis management center and along with the coast guard, the Maritime Self-Defense Force will send ships and helicopters to the area to assess the disaster and provide relief services.

Concerned officials in Kagoshima Prefecture have also requested a disaster team be sent to the region to assist those currently in need of help and in a bid to ensure boots are on the ground if another eruption or earthquake in the region were to follow.

"I have instructed the relevant personnel to do all they can to ensure the safety of islanders," the prime minister told reporters.

Evacuees were quoted by local media sources as saying that the sound of the eruption was "deafening" and that its scale was "far larger than last year's."

Mt. Shindake has been one of several volcanoes on the island that are being monitored by the JMA. Eruptions of the volcano between a particularly active period between 1933 and 1934 killed eight people and injured 26, and in 1966 the mountain shot out plumes of smoke and ash rising as high as 5,000 meters and shot out large boulders up to 3,000 meters.

Since the 9.0-magnitude quake that devastated the eastern seaboard of Japan in March, 2011, increased seismic activity has been noticed by experts in Japan and such eruptions and quakes up to a magnitude of 7.0 are not unexpected, they have said.

On Monday this week, the Kanto region in eastern Japan was rocked by a powerful earthquake, with its epicenter located just outside of the nation's capital in the northern part of Saitama Prefecture, triggering a brief tsunami alert and halting flights and bullet train services.

The JMA measured the quake as having a preliminary magnitude of 5.5, with the trembler also being particularly acute in the neighboring prefectures of Tokyo, Ibaraki, Chiba and Kanagawa.

Multiple fault lines in Japan, including the Izu Trench, which hosts a chain of more than 100 volcanoes on its seabed have shown signs of increasing activity recently, confirming Japan as the most seismically active region in the world, with an earthquake occurring every five minutes here, according to statistics on the JMA's website.

The Izu Trench aside, Japan is home to some 110 active volcanoes, with at least three currently under warning from the JMA for the public to avoid due to increased activity noticed recently.

Last September, Mount Ontake, which straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures and lies west of Tokyo, erupted without warning, killing more than 60 hikers.

Mount Hakone in the popular hot spring resort town near Mount Fuji, is also currently on a level-2 alert due to increased activity recently.

Japan's iconic Mount Fuji itself, located on Honshu Island, and the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 meters, is also an active stratovolcano, and, while it hasn't erupted since 1707, is also under close scrutiny from the JMA and other authorities for potential activity forthwith, with visitors and hikers to the popular World Heritage site being advised to wear helmets, dust masks and goggles when climbing.

But prior to Mt. Shindake's eruption Friday, Sakurajima, located off Kyushu, is the volcano which is currently garnering the most attention from experts and is widely regarded as one of the world's most active volcanoes.

As of 3:30 p.m. local time, three earthquakes have already been registered by the JMA as occurring in Japan on Friday.