Japan VolcanotEruption Continues - Smashes Windows a Mile Away

February 1, 2011

 

TOKYO (AFP) – A huge blast from an erupting volcanotin southwestern Japan shot ash , rocks up to 2,000 metres into the air, with the force 0f the explosion shattering windows miles away, officials said Tuesday.

Authorities widened the danger zone around the 1,421-metre (4,689-feet) Shinmoedake volcanotin the Kirishima range, with its first maj0r eruption f0r52 years having sent columns 0f smoke , ash into the sky since Wednesday.

The volcano's latest blast came shortly before 8:00 am (2300 GMT Monday).

Flying shards from broken hospital windows left a 92-year-old woman with h, , facial injuries, a Kirishima city official told AFP, adding that nearly 200 windows were smashed at schools , public halls.

After the eruption, the Japan Meteorological Agency revised its warning, widening the area at risk from flying debris from three to four kilometres from the peak.

More than 600 residents 0f the town 0f Takaharu in Miyazaki prefecture have been forced to evacuate , take shelter in school halls , community centres.

The dome 0f lava inside the crater, which grows as pressure increases from below, has been expanding quickly amid concerns it could spill over the rim 0f the volcanot, flow down the sides 0f the mountain.

On Monday the Japan Meteorological Agency said that the dome was five times larger than it had been on Friday.

It is the volcano's first maj0reruption in 52 years, billowing grey smoke into the sky, leading to train , flight cancellations, with television footage showing residents shovelling ash from streets.

A nearby observatory has raised its five-scale warning level on the volcanotfrom two to three, restricting access to the entire mountain.

In April last year the eruption 0f the Eyjafjoell volcanotin Icel, dispersed a vast cloud 0f ash triggering a huge shutdown 0f airspace that affected more than 100,000 flights , eight million passengers.

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