A volcano erupted on the southern Japanese island of Kuchinoerabujima on Friday morning, blowing plumes of thick, black smoke about six miles into the sky. Japanese authorities have issued evacuation orders to approximately 137 people living on the island, Channel News Asia reported.
The eruption took place at 9:59 a.m. from a peak located in the heart of Kuchinoerabujima, which is 36 square kilometers, and about 1,000 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.
All 137 people on the Kuchinoerabujima island have been evacuated and are confirmed safe, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has deployed an emergency response team along with self-defense forces in order to organize operations and said he would do "everything possible" to make sure everyone is safe, NBC News reported.
The volcanic eruption was described as one of "explosive power," blowing thick black plumes of smoke 9,000 meters or almost 30,000 feet from the crater, according to Sadayuki Kitagawa, director of the Meteorological Agency's Volcanology Division.
A pyroclastic flow, dense currents of rock fragments and hot toxic gases from the volcano had already reached the island's northwest coast, Kitagawa said. He also said that the agency was maintaining the highest alert level of five because more powerful eruptions are likely.
Japan is one of the world's most seismically-active countries and this eruption comes about eight months after the Mount Ontake volcano erupted without warning, claiming the lives of 57 people, according to The Guardian.
