Japan: Kumamoto's Mount Aso erupts thick smoke with plumes of ash; alert issued

Mount Aso in Japan's Kumamoto prefecture erupted at around 11:43 am (local time) on Wednesday, Kyodo News reported quoting the Japanese Meteorological Agency. Volcanic smoke flew more than one kilometre from the No 1 Nakadake crater after it started spewing plumes of ashes. The latest eruption was observed after a small-scale emission on Thursday. As per Kyodo, thick smoke spread across Mt Aso, in the southwestern region of Japan. The volcanic ashes reached a height of at least 3,500 meters. Mt. Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture is the largest active volcano in Japan and is among the large ones in the world. It stands in Aso Kujū National Park in Kumamoto Prefecture, on the island of Kyushu. Take a look at the videos of the smoke spreading across the region taken by locals: 

As the volcano erupted late morning it was followed by basaltic rocks flying here and there which led hikers to flee away from the spot, Kyodo news reported. Local authorities raised a level 3 alert after stones tumbled town grassy slopes and smoke continued to billow from the crater. Meanwhile, there are no reports of initial casualties or injuries due to the eruption.

Mount Aso: largest active volcano in Japan

Mount Aso is the largest active volcano in Japan and one of the largest in the world. The crater Nakadake last erupted in 2019. As per volcanodiscovery.com, the site has been a hub of frequent ash eruptions from complex active vents spread over 24 km wide caldera.

The last major volcanic activity observed in the mountain was in October 2018 when a large amount of ash fill in the northeast direction of Mt. Aso. The height of ash-filled smoke was recorded at 12,000m above sea level, a paper published in the Earth and Science reported. "This height is lower than 13–14 km, the SO2 cloud altitude estimated by Himawari-8 Ash RGB and the JMA Global Atmospheric Transport Model and is also lower than the radar echo height indicated by JMA (15 km)," the report mentioned. In a similar incident, earlier in 2014, at least 63 people died on Mount Ontake which is dubbed as one of the worst volcanic disasters in Japan in around 90 years.

Image: AP