A live view of Mount Sakurajima captured by an Asahi Shimbun camera installed in Tarumizu in Kagoshima Prefecture (The Asahi Shimbun)

Photo/Illutration Mount Sakurajima in Kagoshima erupts on the evening of July 24. (Captured from the Japan Meteorological Agency’s website)

KAGOSHIMA--A massive eruption occurred at Mount Sakurajima here on the evening of July 24, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue the highest alert urging residents to evacuate.

The eruption occurred at around 8:05 p.m. at the Minamidake summit vent, spewing large cinders into an area as far as about 2.5 kilometers away.

At 10:20 p.m., Kagoshima ordered 51 people from 33 households on Sakurajima island to evacuate after the JMA raised the alert level from 3, which restricts entry to the mountain area, to the highest level 5 at 8:50 p.m.

No damage from the eruption had been reported as of 7 a.m. on July 25, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

This was the first time the JMA raised the alert to its highest 5 level since May 2015, when a major eruption occurred at Mount Shindake on Kuchinoerabujima island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

A level-5 alert had never been issued for Mount Sakurajima. The alert system was introduced in 2007.

The alert will be upgraded to the highest level if cinders travel more than 2.4 km from the vent, according to a local meteorological office in Kagoshima.

In the latest eruption, large cinders landed as far as 2.5 km away from the vent for the first time since June 4, 2020.

The JMA did not raise the alert level at the time since a massive eruption was no longer likely when large cinders were confirmed about four days after the eruption.

The meteorological office dispatched two officials on the morning of July 25 to investigate the details on cinders spewed from the vent this time.

The office said crustal movement has been observed at Mount Sakurajima since July 18, indicating that the mountain is swelling.

Subsequently, one eruption occurred on July 22, followed by four more on July 23.

The latest major eruption released all the pressure that had been building up before another swelling that started on July 18, but the latter still keeps growing, according to the office.

It is urging residents to stay vigilant as more large cinders could rain down in a radius of about 3 km from the vent.

The office added that no pyroclastic flow from the July 24 eruption has been observed but warned that it could gush into an area in a roughly 2-km radius from the vent.

The Kagoshima city government set up an evacuation center on Sakurajima island to provide shelter to 51 people from 33 households living in parts of Arimura and Furusato towns under the evacuation order.

Firefighters and others showed 28 people from 19 households the way to the evacuation center. The city completed its evacuation at 11:56 p.m. as the rest of the residents were away from their homes.

“Cinders traveled about the same distance time to time from around the 1970s to 1980s when volcanic activities were intense,” said Kazuhiro Ishihara, a professor emeritus of volcano physics at Kyoto University. “But the latest eruption would rank among the three largest that occurred in the past 20 years.”

But he said Mount Sakurajima has so far showed no signs of a massive eruption like the 1914 Taisho Eruption, when the lava flow connected Sakurajima island to the Osumi Peninsula.

The swelling of the mountain observed since July 18 has yet to subside, but that has not caused the entire mountain to swell or triggered frequent seismic activities across the island, according to Ishihara.

He urged the public to stay away from the mountain area and remain on the alert for the time being by checking the latest information from the JMA and the local meteorological office.

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