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A volcano in central Japan erupted on Saturday injuring at least eight people and forced aircraft to divert flying routes to void the billowing ash cloud.
The Meteorological Agency said Mt Ontake, which straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures, erupted at around 11:53 a.m., sending smoke down the mountain’s south slope for more than three kilometers.
“Seven people were lightly injured and one person suffered serious injuries as a result of the eruption,” Makoto Hasegawa of the Nagano Prefecture fire department told Reuters.
The eruption is still taking place, he said.
“Aircraft are diverting their flying routes to avoid the ash cloud,” said Hasegawa.
NHK public broadcaster showed footage of the 3,067-meter mountain sending thick, grey smoke into the air.
Mt Ontake is located some 200 kilometers west of Tokyo. No nuclear power plants are located nearby.
No nuclear power plants are located nearby.
Yokohammer wrote:They're saying that there have been volcanic tremors going on as of the 10th of this month, and "caution was advised" ... So why the fuck were people up there enjoying a leisurely Saturday afternoon hike?
wagyl wrote:Yokohammer wrote:They're saying that there have been volcanic tremors going on as of the 10th of this month, and "caution was advised" ... So why the fuck were people up there enjoying a leisurely Saturday afternoon hike?
There is no record of any past cautions being given in relation to volcanic activity http://www.data.jma.go.jp/svd/vois/data ... keiho.html unlike, for example, Kusatsu Shirane which still has a Level 4 (do not approach crater, in effect a 1 Km radius no go zone) which has closed the car park and walk tracks and resthouse/souvenirs for over three months now. i somehow think that the "caution" which was advised was no more than the usual level of cover your arse/nanny state caution that is usually given. The ropeway certainly appears to have only just cancelled an event scheduled for tomorrow, due to the eruption http://www.ontakerope.co.jp/
More than 30 people were feared dead on Sunday near the peak of the Japanese volcano that erupted a day earlier, sending a huge cloud of ash and rock tumbling down its slopes, while packed with hikers.
Police said they were found in a state of "cardiopulmonary" arrest, but declined to confirm their deaths pending a formal examination, as per Japanese custom.
Hundreds of people, including children, were stranded on Mount Ontake after it erupted without warning on Saturday, sending ash pouring down the slope for more than 3 km (2 miles.)
Most made their way down that evening but at least 30 spent the night near the 3,067 meter (10,062 feet) peak.
More than 40 people were injured, several with broken bones, and authorities were trying to confirm the whereabouts of 45 people, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said earlier.
The volcano was still erupting on Sunday, pouring smoke and ash hundreds of meters into the sky. Ash was found on cars as far as 80 km (50 miles) away.
Volcanoes erupt periodically in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active nations, but there have been no fatalities since 1991, when 43 people died in a pyroclastic flow, a superheated current of gas and rock, at Mount Unzen in southwestern Japan.
Satoshi Saito, a 52-year-old hiker who climbed Ontake on Saturday and descended less than an hour before the eruption, said the weather was good and the mountain, known for its fall foliage, was crowded with people bearing cameras.
"There were no earthquakes or strange smells on the mountain when I was there," Saito, who usually climbs Ontake several times a year, told Reuters, adding that there were no warnings of possible eruptions posted on the trail.
"But a man who runs a hotel near the mountain told me that the number of small earthquakes had risen these past two months, and everyone thought it was weird."
Video footage on the internet showed huge gray clouds boiling towards climbers at the peak and people scrambling to descend as blackness enveloped them.
Footage on NHK national television showed windows in a mountain lodge darkening and people screaming as heavy objects pelted the roof.
"All of a sudden ash piled up so quickly that we couldn't even open the door," Shuichi Mukai, who worked in a mountain lodge just below the peak, told Reuters. The building quickly filled with hikers taking refuge.
"We were really packed in here, maybe 150 people. There were some children crying, but most people were calm. We waited there in hard hats until they told us it was safe to come down."
The mountain, some 200 km (125 miles) west of Tokyo, is a popular site to view autumn foliage.
Flights at Tokyo's Haneda airport suffered delays as planes changed routes to avoid the peak, which straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures, but were mostly back to normal by Sunday, an airport spokeswoman said.
An official at the volcano division of the Japan Meteorological Agency said that, while there had been a rising number of small earthquakes detected at Ontake since Sept. 10, the eruption could not have been predicted easily.
"There were no other signs of an imminent eruption, such as earth movements or changes on the mountain's surface," the official told Reuters. "With only the earthquakes, we couldn't really say this would lead to an eruption."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/ ... 5K20140928
tweetin' journalist wrote:in Japan officialdom, nuclear meltdown not ongoing, poverty and crime not increasing, #Ontake hikers not dead. Tokyo media parlay fairytale
wagyl wrote:It is just like all those people transported to hospital but declared dead on arrival. The paramedics are not murderous fools, it is just that a person with certain qualification has to be the one to certify death, and they are not on mountains, at the scenes of the various accidents, or riding in the back of ambulances.
Basically, you are not dead until I tell you you are, OK?
The other way to look at it:tweetin' journalist wrote:in Japan officialdom, nuclear meltdown not ongoing, poverty and crime not increasing, #Ontake hikers not dead. Tokyo media parlay fairytale
dimwit wrote:The not dead yet count still stands at 27 two days after the eruption. Zombies maybe?
The statue of the god, 国之常立神("god that always stands on the land"), on top of Mt. Ontake is still standing, but without the head. The photo was taken by Mainichi Shinbun, shared on Twitter by @Santou.
I thought this was rather symbolic.
So far, 51 people are (finally) confirmed dead. There are still 15 people missing. From what I have read in the newspapers, there may have been people who may have been alive if they had been rescued earlier. But it seems to be "safety first" and foremost for the rescue workers including fire fighters and Self Defense Force, from the start.
The maximum density of hydrogen sulfide deemed safe by the government law (Industrial Safety and Health Law) is 10 ppm. Not so for the fire fighters, who decided to be very safe and use 5 ppm as the max they would tolerate. Not so for the Self Defense Force, who decided to be even safer than the fire fighters and use the ridiculously low 1 ppm. So, they evacuated from the mountain when their finely tuned instrument showed the density to be slightly over 2 ppm.
There is something that doesn't make sense about the rescue effort by the national government and the local municipalities.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.jp/2014/10/ot-mt ... ation.html
Mike Oxlong wrote:For me it was the image juxtaposition. Coming from North America, my own image of rescue workers is of people who rush into harm's way without regard for their own personal safety (besides equipment and training and teamwork) to help others. That blog post gave the opposite image.
kurogane wrote:BTW, from my reading of that linked news article or blog, the author was quite miffed that the SDF and S&R didn't rush headlong into potential danger and harm for no purpose at all. Is he just another Eikaiwa graduate Angry White Cunt in Japan???
dimwit wrote:My opinion of the SDF rescue teams will be forever jaded by their not so thoroughly adult decision to do a campy rather try to rescue the survivors of the JAL 123 crash back in 1985.
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