Stunning Images of Volcanic Eruption on Japan’s Kuchinoerabu-jima Island · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Eyewitness footage of Mount Shindake erupting on Kuchinoerabu-jima. YouTube screencap from JiJi Press.
Mount Shindake on the isolated Japanese island of Kuchinoerabu-jima erupted suddenly without warning on May 28, forcing all 137 residents of the island to be quickly evacuated.
Residents left the island so quickly that there appears to have been little time to collect belongings, much less take pictures of the eruption to upload to social media.
However, one boy was able to film spectacular first-hand video of the eruption, which was picked up by JiJi, one of Japan's main news wire services:
｢ドドド｣と地鳴り､迫る噴煙＝直前に耳鳴り､母は悲鳴ｰ撮影の少年・口永良部島
Video caption: Just before this video was taken, the earth rumbled and the sky suddenly filled with ash as the boy's mother screamed.
The eruption occurred just seconds before this young boy started filming. During the video, he urges his frightened mother to hurry, telling her to forget about the laundry as the volcano has just erupted.
The severity of the eruption meant that most residents escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs:
毎日動画：口永良部空撮：新岳噴火、避難する島民 – 毎日新聞 http://t.co/rHClcXK8Wb 爆発的噴火に襲われ、住み慣れた島を離れる住民たちの様子です。本社ヘリ、本社機から撮影した動画、静止画で構成しました。 pic.twitter.com/vX5E0KJBuV
— 毎日新聞映像グループ (@eizo_desk) May 29, 2015
From Mainichi News footage: As seen from the air above Kuchinoerabu-jima: New eruption – Mainichi News http://t.co/rHClcXK8Wb Amidst fears of a new eruption, residents have been evacuated. Images taken from Mainichi News helicopter (video and stills available).
It's unclear if or when Kuchinoberu-jima's residents will be able to return home:
口永良部噴火：避難「年単位」も　牛とイモの島、募る不安
Kuchinoerabu eruption: evacuation of residents could last as long as one year; now an “island of cows and potatoes.” Residents’ unease over fate of their home deepens.
The volcanic eruption has produced some fantastic images that are being shared all over social media.
口永良部 噴火 pic.twitter.com/uenMA3ZTXQ
— T.Bell (@mon_suzu) May 29, 2015
Kuchinoerabu eruption.
屋久島にかかる火山灰雲。人工衛星から。 pic.twitter.com/4Ole98f7Nz
— 早川由紀夫 (@HayakawaYukio) May 29, 2015
Kuchinoerabu volcanic ash plume from satellite.
Luckily for residents of the large regional center of Kagoshima to the northeast, for the time prevailing winds have sent the ash plume away from the Kyushu mainland:
【5/29-11:45 TBC気象台】気象庁が発表した口永良部島の降灰予報によると、火山灰は火口から南東方向へと流れる見込みです。 pic.twitter.com/3H4SZOvl9D
— TBC東北放送 防災減災･災害情報 (@TBC_saigai) May 29, 2015
According to information published by the Japan Meteorological Agency about fallout from the Kuchinoerabu-jima volcanic plume, ash will be carried from the crater by prevailing winds to the southwest.
A number of Kyushu volcanoes are due to erupt at any time, or are already active. This tweet from nearly a year ago highlighted the risk of a volcanic eruption on Kuchinoerabu-jima:
九州の火山も要注意　桜島、口永良部は入山規制　 桜島では２００９年以降、活動が活発化し、翌年から４年連続で噴火回数が８００回を超えた。#西日本新聞 http://t.co/iNxusHislz pic.twitter.com/Vdu0ayDFcf
— 花　「生活の党」応援 (@sakura1478) September 29, 2014
[From image, chart from top to bottom] Kyushu volcanic activity:
Volcanic activity: 3 = Red, 2 = Yellow, 1 = Green
Sakurajima (in Kagoshima) and Kuchinoerabu have been added to the list of active volcanoes. The Sakurajima volcano has been experiencing increasing volcanic activity since 2000 and has continuously erupted more than 800 times over the past four years.
While Mount Shindake on Kuchinoerabu-jima is the latest volcano to capture the imagination of people around the world, the nearby city of Kagoshima on the southwestern end of the island of Kyushu has had to deal with frequent eruptions from Sakurajima, a nearby resident volcano whose shape dominates the skyline of the city.
A series of eruptions in the week prior to the Kuchinoerabu eruption had already blanketed the city with ash.
桜島の噴火。 今晩はこの辺でm(_ _)m pic.twitter.com/CqT2E6F8Ep
— 乗りテツ透析テツ(脱被曝) (@tohsekitetsu) May 22, 2015
Sakurajima erupts. This is what it looks like tonight. m(_ _)m
Even as Kuchinoberu-jima residents were being evacuated, Sakurajima was blanketing the streets of Kagoshima with ash:
帰ろうと思ったら俺の愛車が 火山灰にやられてた… pic.twitter.com/FBIpu5piHG — 田中 省吾 (@SkytreeShogo) May 29, 2015
Just when I was getting ready to go home I discovered my beloved wheels had been smothered with volcanic ash.
This university student tweeted:
桜島の火山灰でキャンパス内は、こんな感じ。 pic.twitter.com/vAN3at3F5t
— Ryusuke IMURA (@tigers_1964) May 29, 2015
This is what it looks like on campus thanks to volcanic ash from Sakurajima.
Sakurajima's eruptions may be at best a nuisance for locals, but are quite spectacular for visitors to Kagoshima:
最終日、錦江高原ホテルで温泉日帰りで入ってきた。 桜島からモクモクと煙が出ていました。 写真は誰もいないとのことで撮影の許可を取ることができました(*^^*) pic.twitter.com/m3ilCPo8tW
— az (@azuchn2525) May 22, 2015
On the last day of our stay at the Kinko Highlands Hotel we took a dip in the outdoor bath. Clouds of ash billowed from Sakurajima. As there was no one else in the bath I'm pretty sure no one minded if we snapped a photo. (*^^*)
The explosive power of Sakurajima is nothing new. Besides causing a tsunami and killing hundreds of people, a major eruption in 1914 transformed Kagoshima Bay, creating a peninsula that joined the former island of Sakurajima and its volcano to Kagoshima and the Kyushu mainland:
“The Sakurajima eruption in 1914, one of the biggest eruptions in history: http://t.co/ElXdaaVHTh #photography pic.twitter.com/liH7baQn7s” — Daniel Gennaoui (@DanielGennaoui) March 30, 2015