Eruption Continues at Mt. Asama
Posted by feww on June 17, 2015
Asama spewing smoke and ash
About 90 tremors were recorded on June 7, and the volcano released an estimated 1,700 tons of sulfur dioxide (20 times more than the amount released last month), said officials.
Japan’s weather agency raised the alert level for the volcano to Level 2 [“Do not approach the crater”] last week.
Ashfall from the eruption was also reported around the mountain as far as 4 km from the volcano, said officials. Aashfall from a September 2004 eruption covered a large area.
Recent Volcanic Activity on the Planet of the Abes
Mt. Ontake
In September, a series of volcanic tremors was followed by a powerful eruption at Mt. Ontake in central Japan, which left at least 57 people dead and 6 others missing.
The country’s worst volcanic disaster in 70 years would have been easily prevented had the authorities not failed to heed the warning signs.
Mt Shindake (Kuchinoerabujima)
A powerful eruption ejected an ash cloud to a height of about 9,000 meters in the air, forcing the authorities to evacuate the 140 or so residents from Kuchinoerabujima island on May 29, 2015.
Latest Warnings for Japan’s Volcanoes [Sourced from Japan’s weather agency]
- Warning Level 5 (Evacuate) Shindake (Kuchinoerabujima), 29 May 2015
- Near-crater warning Level 3 (Do not approach the volcano) Ontake, 31 March 2015
- Near-crater warning Warning in non-residential areas near the crater Nishinoshima, 24 February 2015
Fire Earth 
Chris H. said
I’ve read the previous comments on Mount Ontake disaster, but have difficulty in understanding how something like this could occur. Was this an isolated incident, or could it occur again?
feww said
No, it was by no means an isolated incident. Negligent disasters are pervasive in Japan, especially calamities resulting from criminal incompetence of Japanese elite class, which includes its scientific and industrial communities.
Take the auto industry, for example. More than 100 million recalls have occurred since the start of 2014, most of them involving Japanese cars, or vehicles using Japanese components, like the Takata airbags.
Dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries have preceded the recalls.
Is there a difference between the liabilities of those involved in, (i) the deaths caused by Mt Ontake eruptions, and (ii) fatalities resulting from the airbags explosions?
In the first case, the incompetent official scientists were criminally negligent because they failed to warn the public that the seismic activity in the area, which had occurred several days earlier, would likely lead to volcanic eruptions. Dozens of unsuspecting hikers lost their lives, as a result.
In the second case, the incompetent manufacturers are criminally negligent because their defective airbags turn into lethal weapons, killing or seriously injuring the unsuspecting motorists.