Mount Aso in Japan erupted on Monday morning on its No. 1 crater located in its Nakadake Peak in the Kumamoto Prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Society, the Japan News reported.
Time-lapse of Mount #Aso, #Japan's largest active volcano, erupting this morning. (via @kumamoto_rkk) pic.twitter.com/nMeHBQvBTN
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) September 14, 2015
The volcano erupted on 9:43 a.m. local time and experts have raised the alert level of the eruption from Level 2 to Level 3 which means people are no longer allowed to come close to the volcano. The smoke from the crater elevated to about 2,000 meters but as of 10:30 a.m., there were no casualty reports.
Local police were able to safely evacuate people that were on the mountain's ropeway station and the other tourists transported to the lower part of the mountain. The authorities are still verifying if there are still other hikers left in certain restricted areas. Flights to and from Kumamoto were already diverted because of the heavy ash blown out into the air from the eruption, according to Fox News.
"This could happen a few times," said Yasuaki Sudo, a researcher at Aso Volcano Museum. "The most important thing is to stay out of the danger zone."
The Kyushu Electric Power Company announced that this eruption of one of Japan's most active volcanoes will have no effect of its nuclear plants. One is the Sendai nuclear plant which is only located 160 kilometers to the south of Mount Aso.
Japan is located on the "Ring of Fire" and presently has over 100 volcanoes, according to CBC News. Just last year, Mount Ontake erupted without warning and claimed the lives of 63 people. In May, residents fled from an island in Kyushu because of an eruption.
