After series of small eruptions over the past 18 months, Mt. Aso erupted on Sept. 14 sending a plume of ash 2,000 m into the sky. The eruption warning level for the volcano was raised to 3 (“entry prohibited”) for the first time ever. Mt. Aso is the latest in a string of increasingly active volcanoes in Kyushu, namely Sakurajima, the Kirishima Mountains and Kuchinoerabu Island (all in Kagoshima Pref.). Mt. Aso lies within one of Japan’s two main volcano fronts, which stretches from the islands of Okinawa and Kagoshima up through the Kuju Mountains in Oita Prefecture. Experts said it was no surprise that Mt. Aso erupted, but there is no easy way for them to predict exactly when a volcano will erupt. Luckily no one was injured in the Mt. Aso eruption, which was about the same size as a 1979 eruption that took the lives of three tourists. Meanwhile, the nearby Mt. Unzen (Nagasaki Pref.) and the Kuju Mountains (Oita Pref.) remain calm among Kyushu’s volcanoes, but experts recommend that local residents should always be prepared precisely since the timing of eruptions cannot be predicted with certainty. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 9/15
