Volcano erupts, massive quake rocks Japan islands

Volcano erupts, massive quake rocks Japan islands
TERUAKI UENO

TOKYO, JULY 15: An earthquake strong enough to be felt in Tokyo rocked a chain of islands south of the capital today after a volcano erupted for the fourth time in a week on the island of Miyakejima.

The meteorological agency said the tremor registering 6.2 on the open-ended Richter Scale shook the small island of Niijima, 140 km south of Tokyo, at 10.30 am, local time.

The agency said it had upgraded the magnitude of the earthquake to 6.2 from the initial estimate of 5.9 after carefully analysing data.

There was no danger of tidal waves being triggered by the earthquake, officials said.

But local police on Niijima said at least seven people were slightly injured and two homes were badly damaged.

The resort island has the population of 2,800.

Local officials said the tremor triggered landslides and cut electricity to some 200 homes on the northern part of the island, and four vessels were on standby to evacuate residents there.

Seismologists have warned that the island chain could be hit by more strong earthquakes.

``There is a possibility of relatively strong earthquakes hitting the islands,'' said Katsuyuki Abe at the University of Tokyo.

The central government formed a task force at the Prime Minister's official residence to respond to the earthquake.

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori told staff at the task force to remain vigilant over developments related to the tremor.

``More than anything else, it is important to protect the lives of the people... I want you to take all possible measures,'' Mori said.

About 140 residents living near the foot of Mount Oyama Onmiyakejima, 40 km farther south, were evacuated yesterday after the volcano erupted twice during the day, spewing ash and rocks high into the air.

A local government official said the eruptions were expected to be short-lived and were unlikely to threaten the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the island.

Last Saturday, a similar eruption at Mount Oyama hurled a column of ash and rocks into the air.

The volcano started to rumble at the end of June, but residents who had been evacuated from homes near the mountain were given the green light to return home after a few nights in local schools and other evacuation centres.

The chain of seven islands has experienced tens of thousands of tremors over the past few weeks triggered by the increasingly active volcano.

This month, a powerful earthquake rocked the neighbouring island of Kozushima, causing landslides that killed one man, the first earthquake fatality in the earthquake-prone nation for five years.

Mount Oyama's last major eruption was in 1983 when it destroyed 400 houses and left a moonscape of rock, burning out nearby forests and destroying a lake. A lava flow from an eruption in 1940 killed 11 people and it erupted again in 1962.