Officials have urged more than 1000 residents to seek safer
ground and expanded a no-access zone around a volcano that has
exploded back to life in southern Japan. The 1421-metre
Shinmoedake volcano erupted last week for the first time in 52
years. The volcano is located in a remote part of the Kirishima
range on the southern Japan island of Kyushu. No injuries have
been reported. On Monday, five days after it burst back to life,
the volcano was still spewing a spectacular plume into the air,
sending a blanket of ash out over a wide area and prompting
several hundred residents to seek shelter in evacuation centres.
Officials in the town of Takaharu urged about 1,100 residents to
go to evacuation centres because of the danger of debris, ash
and landslides. The warning was not mandatory, however, and some
residents were returning to their homes instead. The
Meteorological Agency, meanwhile, broadened a no-access danger
zone to three kilometres from the peak and was planning to send
in helicopters to monitor act