On August 18, 2013, the Sakurajima volcano in Kagoshima Prefecture had a major eruption. The Meteorological Agency said that the volcanic ash was spewed 5,000 meters into the sky. Media reports said that the 1,117-meter volcano erupted at 4:31 pm and threw out large rocks over a distance of 1,800 meters.
Even lava flows of about 1 km were spotted. The city of Kagoshima had massive amount of ash and prompted railways to temporarily stop the operations of train in order to remove ash from tracks. So far, no reports of injury have been announced. The volcano became active in June 2006 and the plume of the eruption was the highest so far.
More reports have also said that the eruption was the 500th one in 2013. The weather agency said that it does not see any signs of a bigger eruption, but warned that eruptions of the same scale can be expected later on.
Meanwhile, people in the city of Kagoshima wore raincoats and used umbrellas in order to protect themselves from the ash after the eruption. Local media said that drivers had to turn on their headlights, as it looked like driving through snow in the night.
Photo Credits: Yahoo
