[Faline]

A volcano in southern Japan erupted again today, its most powerful explosion since it roared back to life last week, sending ash over a wide area and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

The latest eruption felled trees, sent boulders hurtling on to roads and smashed hundreds of windows in hotels and offices five miles (8km) away.

Local media said one woman had been cut by shattered glass, but there were no reports of serious injuries.

Shinmoedake, part of the Kirishima mountain range on the island of Kyushu, south-west Japan, erupted last Wednesday in its first major activity for 52 years. Public broadcaster NHK said today's explosion was five times bigger than the initial eruption recorded last week.

Ash and smoke from the 4,662ft peak prompted authorities to issue an evacuation warning and forced the cancellation of dozens flights at the end of last week. The initial eruption disrupted train service and led to the closure of local schools. There were reports of widespread damage to crops.

The peak, which straddles the border between Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures, is better known as the site of an underground rocket launch site controlled by Blofeld, James Bond's nemesis in the film You Only Live Twice.

Yesterday officials widened the no-access zone to two and a half miles from the peak, which was still spewing plumes of smoke and ash thousands of metres into the air five days after the first eruption.

The alert level was raised from two to three, on a scale of one to five.

Japan's meteorological agency is concerned that the area could be hit by high-temperature gas and ash.

More than 1,000 residents in high-risk areas were advised to seek refuge in emergency shelters amid fears of landslides and large amounts of debris and ash falling in the area, which lies about 590 miles south-west of Tokyo.

Several hundred heeded the advisory, but others decided to stay at home and protect themselves with umbrellas, facemasks and sunglasses.

Experts are concerned that the worst activity is yet to come. Lava is building up in the crater as a result of pressure from below, although it is not clear whether the eruptions will produce enough lava to spill over the rim and down the mountainside. The agency said yesterday that the dome of lava inside Shinmoedake was five times larger than it had been last Friday.

Volcanologists said the recent eruptions resemble activity observed before a major eruption involving Shinmoedake 300 years ago. They said the recent activity was characteristic of explosions that occur when magma – the hot fluid from which lava is formed when it cools – interacts with underground water.

"The eruption process is quite similar to the eruptions [of 1716-17], so more violent eruptions could take place," Ryusuke Imura, an expert in volcanic topography at Kagoshima University, told the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

Japan, located on the seismically active Pacific "Ring of Fire", is dotted with volcanoes. Forty-three people died when Mount Unzen, also located on Kyushu, erupted in 1991.

Japan's highest mountain, Mount Fuji, is active but considered at low risk of eruption. The 12,389ft peak's last recorded eruption began in December 1707 and lasted two weeks.


Amazing pictures below:

[Faline]

Video Footage:

[dooshman]

I still remember the Mt. St. Helen's eruption of 1980, in the state of Washington. That thing was so massive, the ash blocked out the sun to such an extent that many local towns and communities experienced close to total darkness, I believe, for several days. The internal pressure from this thing blew off the entire north side of the mountain. Talk about the sheer power of mother nature!

[candymosh]

I remember seeing this mountain on a tour over there. Amazing pictures of it erupting.

Mt. Fuji is also really pretty. They really aren't concerned with it erupting. I went to the 5th station on a tour too. Really pretty.

[Steve]

Another thing to do before i die, see a pyroclastic flow up close, cheers Kel.

[Viking64]

What a pain in the ash.

Great post, Kel!!

[candymosh]

I wonder what the news was like over there when that was happening. I wonder if it was anything like the typhoons.

There would be people on their roofs trying to tack on shingles during typhoons or people trying to walk to where ever with their little umbrellas all turned inside out.

[Pink.]

the people are accustomed to these eruptions, though, not to that extent. It happens regularly in different areas throughout the island chain.

[MattyD]

[Ambersweet]

Volcano's absolutely facinate me to no end. Same with Thunderstorms. Mix them together and just amazing. Probably 2 of few earthly phenomenons that are pretty much unstoppable, terrible, deadly, yet amasingly facinating because of those factors.