Sakurajima volcano covers Japanese city in ash

Masato Iguchi, a professor at the Sakurajima Volcano Research Center, said 2012 saw a record number of eruptions.

Kyoto University’s disaster reduction research institute keeps close tabs on the volcano in order to avoid a repeat of its 1914 eruption, in which 58 people died.

That episode was the most powerful volcanic eruption to hit Japan in a hundred years.

At present, Sakurajima erupts on a small scale several thousand times a year, sending ash a few kilometres above its peak.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2396611/Mount-Sakurajima-eruption-Impressive-ash-cloud-reaches-sky-Japanese-volcano-erupts-500th-time-YEAR.html

A clean-up operation has begun in Japan after an eruption at a volcano covered an entire city with ash.

Footage shows Mount Sakurajima spewing the dark plume 5,000m into the air. It is the 500th eruption this year.

Residents of the nearby Kagoshima city used masks and umbrellas to protect themselves, as ash fell from the sky onto the streets below.

Daniela Ritorto reports.

Health-risk: Locals living in the shadow of Sakurajima have been urged to cover up and wear masks while the ash fall is heavy