This morning a place I have very fond memories of woke to a large and growing cloud of ash. One of the volcanoes in the Mt Kirishima area on the Southern Island of Kyushu has woken up yesterday and is very grumpy. I recall that somewhere I have a picture of me with a group of other young people at the Kirishima Shrine (Kirishima-jingu). I had a great weekend up at My Kirishima onsen when I was escorted by one of my students and her family. Mt Kirishima is situated in a very volatile range of 20+ volcanoes including the very active volcano Mt Sakurajima in the Kagoshima Bay.
I lived for a while in Kagoshima, and Mt Sakurajima kept me awake on many a night with its' grumblings and rumblings, but I never saw anything molten coming out of the top just ash, ash and more ash. Some days almost 2 inches would cover everything when I awoke. I think my worry was made worse by a visit to the island where Sakurajima resides... I saw and in fact stood next to the shrine whose top cross bar now sits just a metre from the ground.
Thankfully Japan as a country has embraced disaster training and conducts regular emergency drills for its' population. I hope everyone stays safe and sound... and I also that this activity doesn't wake up Sakurajima which is overdue for a major vent.
Come on Mother Nature please, please, please go easy on us for a bit. No matter where you live on this great big rock this last few months has given us many reasons to wonder how we can get back on Mum Natures' good side again.
Sorry for the lack of images on this post but I can't seem to locate the box containing my Kyushu photos. Click the links to see the shrine and live pictures of the volcanic activity.
No comments:
Post a Comment