Sakurajima volcano in southern Japan erupted

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the Sakurajima volcano in southern Japan erupted on the afternoon of August 18, tossing up as much as 5,000 meters of ash.

Sakurajima volcano next to Kagoshima city sprayed ash.(Source: AP)

This 1,117m high volcano near Kagoshima City erupted at 4:30 pm, blowing a large amount of rock so far up to 1,800m while the lava flow was 1km long.

A lot of ash fell into Kagoshima City, causing railway companies to temporarily shut down to remove the ash from the tracks. There is no information about casualties yet.

This ash column is said to be the highest from the volcano's Showa mouth since the volcano returned in June 2006 when the agency began collecting data from the crater and the like. with the ashes from Minamidake's mouth in October 2000.

The eruption was the 500th time of volcanism in 2013. The Japan Meteorological Agency did not see any signs of a larger eruption in the future, but the eruptions of the same level could be recurring.