Japan: Mount Ontake Eruption

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RESCUE SEARCH FOR MISSING AFTER JAPAN VOLCANO ERUPTION

Hundreds of rescue workers were searching for dozens of people reported missing after a volcano eruption in central Japan, local media reported Sunday.

A total of 32 people remained unaccounted for since Saturday's eruption of Mount Ontake, the Kyodo News agency reported, citing Nagano prefecture government officials.

More than a dozen of the injured victims were also reportedly unconscious, Kyodo said.

Three trekkers were picked up by a military helicopter early Sunday, the report said.

Plumes of smoke extended up to 10 kilometres above the 3,067-metre mountain, between Gifu and Nagano prefectures, and it continued to erupt overnight, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The agency was predicting more eruptions and warning of ash and debris in neighbouring areas of the volcano.

More than 250 hikers were initially trapped following the eruption shortly before noon on Saturday, but most were able to descend on their own by Saturday night, Kyodo said.

About 40 people, including staff members at mountain lodges near the summit, remained stranded on the mountain overnight. Some of them began to go down on the mountain on their own on Sunday morning, Kyodo said.

Mount Ontake is one of the most popular destinations among trekkers. Its last major eruption was in 1979 when it spewed more than 200,000 tons of ash.


Source : Sapa-dpa /nsm
Date : 28 Sep 2014 05:49
 
RECOVERY OF BODIES CALLED OFF AT JAPANESE VOLCANO

Toxic gases and ash from a still-erupting Japanese volcano Monday forced rescue workers to call off their effort to bring down the rest of the victims, after earlier airlifting out eight more bodies by military helicopter.

The recovery work on the ash-blanketed peak was halted around 1:30 p.m., said Naofumi Miyairi, a spokesman for the Nagano prefecture police.

At least 31 people are believed to have died. Together with four victims flown down by helicopter on Sunday, 12 bodies have now been recovered, leaving 19 near the summit. Exactly how they died remains unclear, whether from gases, suffocating ash, falling rocks or other causes.

Scenes broadcast live on Japanese TV station TBS showed soldiers carrying yellow body bags one-by-one to a camouflage military helicopter that had landed in a relatively wide-open area of the now bleak landscape, its rotors still spinning.

The bodies were flown to a nearby athletic field, its green grass and surrounding forested hills contrasting with Mt. Ontake's ash-gray peak in the background, a reduced plume still emerging from its crater.

The bodies were then taken to a small, two-story wooden elementary school in the nearby town of Kiso, where they were being examined in the gymnasium.

Family members of the missing waited at a nearby municipal hall.

More than 200 soldiers and firefighters, including units with gas-detection equipment, were part of the search mission near the peak, said Katsunori Morimoto, an official in the village of Otaki.

The effort was halted because of an increase in toxic gas and ash as the volcano continued to spew fumes, he said. "It sounds like there is enormous ashfall up there."

The rescuers reported a strong smell of sulfur earlier this morning, Morimoto said.

Saturday's eruption was the first fatal one in modern times at 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake, a popular climbing destination 210 kilometers (130 miles) west of Tokyo on the main Japanese island of Honshu. A similar eruption occurred in 1979, but no one died.

Japanese media reported that some of the bodies were found in a lodge near the summit and that others were buried in ash up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) deep. The four recovered Sunday were adult men, and the eight on Monday included both men and women.

Mount Ontake erupted shortly before noon at perhaps the worst possible time, with at least 250 people taking advantage of a beautiful fall Saturday to go for a hike. The blast spewed large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky, blotted out the midday sun and blanketed the surrounding area in ash.

Hundreds were initially trapped on the slopes, though most made their way down by Saturday night.

About 40 people who were stranded overnight came down on Sunday. Many were injured, and some had to be rescued by helicopters or carried down on stretchers. By nightfall, all the injured had been brought down, officials said.

Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency tallied 40 injured people, three seriously, and said it was trying to update the number still missing.

Survivors told Japanese media that they were pelted by rocks. One man said he and others went into the basement of a lodge, fearing that the rocks would penetrate the roof. He covered himself with a futon, a thin Japanese mattress, for protection.


Source : Sapa-AP /kd
Date : 29 Sep 2014 09:54
 
JAPAN VOLCANO RESCUE SUSPENDED AS DEATH TOLL RISES TO 36

Five more bodies were found near the peak of an erupting Japanese volcano on Monday, as rescuers suspended their search because of the growing danger from toxic gas.

The grim discovery takes to at least 36 the total number of people feared to have died when Mount Ontake erupted without warning during a busy hiking weekend.

A police spokesman told AFP the five bodies were in addition to 31 discovered Sunday.

Hundreds of firefighters, police and troops had spent much of Monday around the peak, with helicopters flying overhead, despite the gases and steam billowing from the ruptured crater of the 3,067-metre (10,121-foot) volcano.

A Japanese army official who took part in the search said rescuers had been wearing helmets, bullet-proof vests, goggles and masks to protect themselves from any fresh eruption.

"I saw rocks up to probably one metre (3.3 feet) across (that had been thrown through the air by the force of the eruption)," he said, adding the search had been difficult and involved digging through ash.

Heartbreaking stories have begun to emerge from survivors who made it down the mountain as rolling clouds of volcanic debris swept down its flanks, smothering everything in their path.

"Some people were buried in ash up to their knees and the two in front of me seemed to be dead," one woman told the Asahi television network.

Another told how she had heard the last moments of a victim battered by a cascade of rocks.

"There was someone lying outside the hut after being hit in the back," she said. "He was saying 'It hurts, it hurts,' but after about half an hour he went quiet."

Seiichi Sakurai, who had been working at one of the huts around the top of the volcano, told public broadcaster NHK that he had tried his best to help people but could not save them all.

"Ash was constantly falling... Some people were buried alive but I could do nothing but tell (rescuers) about them over the radio," he said.

Another survivor told the Yomiuri newspaper he had seen a boy shouting "It's hot" and "I can't breathe!" near the peak, before the ash clouds brought blackness and silence.

On Monday morning, eight bodies -- both men and women -- were airlifted from the mountain.

About 60 people suffered injuries in the disaster, the government has said, including people who were hit by flying rocks and inhaled hot or poisonous fumes.

For anguished families, the wait for news was taking its toll.

A tearful father sobbed as he clutched a photograph of his son and the young man's girlfriend, who had not been heard from since the eruption.

An elderly woman told the Asahi network that her son had telephoned her just after gas, rocks and ash began spewing from the volcano.

"He told me it erupted... He said 'It's over. I'm dying now' and then the line was cut off," the woman said.

The meteorological agency forecast further eruptions, warning that volcanic debris may settle as far as four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the peak.

Japan's meteorological agency keeps a round-the-clock watch on 47 volcanos thought to be at risk of violent activity over the next century, including Mount Fuji, whose eruption could have catastrophic effects.

But To****sugu Fujii, a volcanologist at the agency, admitted accurate forecasting was very difficult.

Steam explosions such as those on Ontake often occur without warning, he said.

"People may say we failed to predict this (because there were earthquakes in September) but this is something that could not be helped, in a sense. That's the reality of the limit of our knowledge," he said Sunday.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 29 Sep 2014 10:55
 
Last time 200 000 people died from this volcano. I must be bad to live there. If you survive the Tsunami the Volcano kills you.
you surrounded by water. no fleeing.
 
Magnum said:
Last time 200 000 people died from this volcano. I must be bad to live there. If you survive the Tsunami the Volcano kills you.
you surrounded by water. no fleeing.
Click to expand...

Japan sucks. Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Volcano's and radiation. It's like everything there is just itching to kill you dead.
 
Beerisgood said:
Japan sucks. Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Volcano's and radiation. It's like everything there is just itching to kill you dead.
Click to expand...

At least they don't have bamboo wearing freaks with swords trying to sever your head anymore. I think...
 
Magnum said:
Last time 200 000 people died from this volcano. I must be bad to live there. If you survive the Tsunami the Volcano kills you.
you surrounded by water. no fleeing.
Click to expand...

And yet they have some of the highest life expectancy rates in the world.

Their biggest crisis is demographics followed by China/NK.
 
Space_Chief said:
And yet they have some of the highest life expectancy rates in the world.

Their biggest crisis is demographics followed by China/NK.
Click to expand...

I'm telling you.these weird eyed beings are impossible to wipe out.They just come back. Look at the nukes America dropped on them. Radiation is said to last a 1000 years. 20Years after the bombing they rebuilt 10 times bigger.
 
Ninja'd said:
What doesn't kill you... :p
Click to expand...

Then they let pedos off with nothing. Apparently fondling a 6 year old pop idol at a handshaking event gets you only a ban these days. At least it's a ban so there's some improvement.
 
CONFIRMED DEATH TOLL RISES AFTER VOLCANO ERUPTION IN JAPAN

The confirmed death toll rose to 12 Monday after two more bodies were transported from near the summit of a volcano in central Japan, reports said.

Two dozen more bodies were reportedly found by rescuers after Saturday's eruption of Mount Ontake, about 200 kilometres west of Tokyo, broadcaster NHK reported, citing local police officials.

Earlier reports said 36 climbers had perished near the summit. The confirmed toll has been rising slowly because Japanese authorities will not officially proclaim death until bodies have been taken off the mountain and examined.

At least 63 people were injured, NHK reported.

More than 500 rescue workers including soldiers resumed search operations early Monday amid continued volcanic activity. Toxic gases were hampering their efforts.

The eruption on Saturday sent plumes of smoke up to 10 kilometres high above the 3,067-metre volcano. It continued to erupt into Sunday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It warned that another large eruption could occur.

Mount Ontake is one of the most popular destinations for trekkers in Japan. Its last major eruption was in 1979 when it spewed more than 200,000 tons of ash.


Source : Sapa-dpa /kd
Date : 29 Sep 2014 13:47
 
FIVE MORE BODIES FOUND ON JAPAN VOLCANO, DEATH TOLL 48: MEDIA

Five additional bodies have been discovered on a Japanese volcano that erupted without warning, media reported Wednesday, taking the death toll to at least 48.

National broadcaster NHK and several other media said the five were in addition to seven that were discovered on the ash-covered peak earlier in the day.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 01 Oct 2014 09:04
 
JAPAN VOLCANO DEAD FOUND CRUSHED BETWEEN BOULDERS: REPORT

Rescuers searching the volcano that erupted without warning in Japan found dead hikers wedged between huge rocks and people half buried in ash, it emerged Thursday.

At least 47 people are now known to have died in Japan's worst volcanic disaster in nearly 90 years. But up to 24 are still missing, with fears some could be entombed in the thick, sticky ash that has coated the peak since Saturday's eruption.

Heavy rain forced police, troops and firefighters to abandon their search of Mount Ontake on Thursday, the latest reminder of the ongoing danger posed by the 3,067 metre (10,121-feet) mountain, which is still billowing steam and toxic gas.

Police rescuers found ash 40-50 centimetres (16-20 inches) deep at a shrine on the peak when they first arrived, with some of those killed found collapsed and half-buried, the Mainichi newspaper reported.

Five bodies were stuck in between jagged boulders up to three metres (nine feet) across, which emergency workers had to smash using specialist rock-breaking tools to free them, the paper said.

Another rescuer told the Nikkan Sports daily that moving around on the bed of ash was difficult because of the way it had mixed with steam.

"It sticks like damp concrete," he said.

Rescue workers are having to tread extremely carefully because of worries that the blanket of ash they are walking on could be hiding crevices, or unstable rocks.

Autopsies have revealed that hikers, many of whom had been enjoying lunch at the peak in the autumn sunshine, died largely from injuries caused by stones hurled out in the initial explosive eruption at up to 300 kilometres (190 miles) an hour.

"The bulk of the rocks are estimated to be between the size of a human fist and a head," said Takayuki Kaneko, a vulcanologist at the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute.

"They fell so densely that some broke up (after hitting other rocks and objects) and scattered," he told public broadcaster NHK.

"I think people there must have had no idea where to run and been plunged into panic," he said.

Among those confirmed dead was a 42-year-old deaf woman, Hiromi Inooka, who was out for the day with her hearing-impaired husband, Tetsuya, 45.

His body has still not been found.

Toshihiro Ono, a fellow member of a drum performance group the couple was involved in said he was shocked to hear they had been caught up in the tragedy.

"Everyday life was hard enough for them because of their disability," he told AFP. "It's difficult to imagine how frightened they must have been up there."

Footage of early rescue efforts released by the Tokyo Fire Department showed a wooden shelter, in which walkers had sought refuge, punctured by sharp rocks.

Inside, futon mattresses lay on the floor, where some of the injured had spent the night before their rescue on Sunday.

But not everyone in the hut had survived; the body of one young man lay sprawled and lifeless in one of the makeshift beds.

Mount Ontake was packed with hikers when it burst angrily to life on Saturday lunchtime. Many would have been there to witness the spectacular colours of the countryside as it turned to autumn.

Hiking is a hugely popular pastime in Japan, with mountain trails promoted by tourism officials who ask walkers to sign in when they begin their trek and sign out again when they finish.

But a local tourism association told the Asahi Shimbun earlier this week that only 10 to 20 percent of hikers do so.

All 47 dead have been identified, but local authorities say based on notifications they have received from family and friends, 24 people remain unaccounted for.

However, they caution the number may include people who did not climb on Saturday or who got down safely.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 02 Oct 2014 10:56
 
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