Located just across the bay from Kagoshima City (population 600,000), Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, experienced one of its most powerful eruptions in decades Sunday, sending an ash a 5,000 meters into the air (a record since 1995). The volcano began to erupt at 4:31 p.m. local time Sunday. Visibility in the city of Kagoshima, where the volcano sits, deteriorated quickly as ash fell onto populated portions of the city and a pyroclastic flow, a fast-moving current of gas and rock, was observed along a one-kilometer (0.6-mile) swath on the southeast flank of the mountain. Watch a video report here: http://youtu.be/CH12gKEcWSA
