Kagoshima residents clean up after volcano erupts

Residents in a southern Japanese city accustomed to frequent eruptions from a nearby volcano were busy washing ash off the streets yesterday after the mountain spewed a record-high smoke plume into the sky.

Ash wafted as high as five kilometres above the Sakurajima volcano in the southern city of Kagoshima on Sunday afternoon, forming the highest plume since the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) started keeping records in 2006. Lava flowed about one kilometre from the fissure, with several huge volcanic rocks rolling down the mountainside.

Residents wore masks and raincoats and used umbrellas to shield themselves from the falling ash. Drivers turned on their headlights in the evening gloom, and railway service in the city was halted temporarily so ash could be removed from the tracks.

Officials said no injuries or damage were reported.

By yesterday morning, the air was clearer as masked residents sprinkled water and swept up the ash. The city mobilised rubbish trucks and water sprinklers to clean up.

But business largely returned to normal in the city of 600,000 people living only 10 kilometres from the volcano whose eruptions are part of their daily life.