| Report: Japan
volcano erupts
in wake of catastrophic earthquake
The Meteorological
Agency issued a warning Sunday saying
that Shinmoedake volcano resumed activity after a
couple of quiet weeks;
it is unclear if the eruptions were linked to the
quake.
By News Agencies Tags: Israel news
The Meteorological
Agency says a volcano in southern
Japan is spewing ash and rock again as the country
struggles with the aftermath
of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in the
north.
The agency
issued a warning Sunday saying that
Shinmoedake volcano resumed activity after a couple
of quiet weeks.
The mountain is on
Kyushu island, 950 miles (1,500
kilometers) from the epicenter of Friday's magnitude
8.9 earthquake and
resulting tsunami, which devastated much of the
country's northeastern
coast.
It was unclear if
the eruptions were linked to quake.
Japan lies on the Ring of Fire - an arc of
seismically active zones where
earthquake and volcanic eruptions are common.
The full magnitude
of Friday's natural catastrophe
is still unknown, as some 9,500 people are
unaccounted for in one of the
worst-hit areas by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in
north-eastern Japan,
officials said.
With many houses, cars and crops in
Minamisanriku,
Miyagi Prefecture washed away by powerful tsunami
after the deadly earthquake
on Friday, many of the missing may be victims of the
walls of water, prefectural
officials said.
The figure is more than half of the
population of
about 17,000 in the town on the Pacific coast.
Moreover, Kyodo news
agency reported Saturday that
more than 1,700 people are likely dead or missing
following the massive
earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan.
About 300,000 people
have been evacuated from their
homes and that number is likely to rise with the
government increasing
the size of an evacuation area around two nuclear
power plants in Fukushima
in northern Japan, Kyodo said.
Police accounts put
the death toll at 637 and those
missing at 653, but the total number is likely to be
much bigger as 200-300
dead bodies were being transported in the city of
Sendai and another 200
were being taken to gyms in other parts of Miyagi
prefecture, Kyodo said.
SOURCE: HAARETZ
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