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Mt. Aso, an active volcano in Kyushu, southern Japan, erupted today (20th) for the first time in 5 years. As black smoke rose to a height of 3,500 meters, Japanese authorities raised the alert level and urged extreme caution.
This is Tokyo correspondent Yoo Seong-jae.
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Huge amounts of black smoke and volcanic ash erupt from the crater of Mt. Aso.
Tourists who were in the parking lot near the crater hurriedly evacuated to the inside of the building.
A camera installed on the exterior wall of the Volcano Museum vividly captured the erupting volcanic debris flow at a frightening speed.
At 11:43 am today, an eruption began at Mt. Aso, an active volcano in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.
Smoke from the crater once rose up to 3,500 m above sea level, and volcanic debris flows down more than 1 km away.
[Witness: The speed of smoke rising was quite fast. It felt like it was spreading in the blink of an eye.]
At the time of the eruption, there were 16 climbers who submitted a climbing report in advance, but all of them descended safely in the afternoon.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has raised the eruption warning level of Mount Aso and banned access within 2 km of the crater.
[Imura / Associate Professor, Kagoshima University: A lot of this type of eruption occurs before and after a full-scale eruption. For the time being, we need to be careful.]
In October 2016, a large eruption with smoke rising up to 11 km above sea level occurred in Aso, causing volcanic ash damage to nearby villages and tourist facilities.
(Video coverage: Hyunjin Moon, Video editing: Seontak Kim)