A fortunate volcanic eruption
By Denise
@petatonicsca (7070)
Japan
July 25, 2022 7:57am CST
At Sakurajima, we were kind of freaking out over the very few eruptions we'd had in 2022. Last night, there was a fairly normal-sized eruption, but it threw some rocks 2.5km from the crater, triggering a Level 5 (Evacuate) warning. Fortunately, nobody was injured and only 51 people had to evacuate their homes. They lived outside the usual 2-km exclusion zone, but inside the new 3-km exclusion zone. They will continue to live either with relatives or at the nursing home that is serving as their evacuation center, until the scientists are pretty sure that the volcano will not throw anything else that far, at which point they will be allowed to go back.
The great thing is that now we have had seven eruptions in 24 hours! Great, you say? Why? Well, because it is normal for this volcano to erupt a lot. Maybe something got stuck and was finally blown open, or the gas pressure was released or something. Anyway, we are all happier when there is about one eruption a day, because that means things are normal!
Do you have something that people would consider strange like that, which people where you live are happy about? For example, rainfall?
8 people like this
7 responses
@DevMrSamEleazar (14058)
• Philippines
25 Jul 22
Hope Everyone will be safe. it is really hard to have a natural disaster.
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
27 Jul 22
So far everyone is safe and most likely the 51 people who were told to evacuate will be allowed to go home today.
1 person likes this
@DevMrSamEleazar (14058)
• Philippines
27 Jul 22
@petatonicsca oh glad to hear it. Here we also just got earthquake. But I did not feel it just saw in news.
I was sleeping so I did not know it
@JudyEv (342105)
• Rockingham, Australia
25 Jul 22
That's interesting but totally understandable that one eruption a day is normal and no cause for alarm. 
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
27 Jul 22
Sakurajima is making up for lost time in the past two days, something like seven eruptions a day. I hope she settles down to one, as usual.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342105)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul 22
@petatonicsca That's one of the bad things about volcanoes - the unpredictability
@rebelann (112969)
• El Paso, Texas
25 Jul 22
To me this is strange. I have never lived near an area that had an active volcano and then to have it erupt once a day sounds terrifying to me. Does this volcano also spill out lava?
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
27 Jul 22
No, it erupts volcanic ash, except in the huge once-in-every-300-year eruptions, which also produce lava. It usually just gets things dirty. Volcanic ash is basically sand.
@Letranknight2015 (52079)
• Philippines
25 Jul 22
We had experience ash fall when the taal volcano explode. I hope i don't get to experience future volcanic eruptions
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
27 Jul 22
Taal was a big one. Volcanic ash is a pain to clean up but better than having the volcano wait and give us a huge explosion.
@Greencindere (669)
•
25 Jul 22
Yes I remember when I was little and living in Serbia (doesn’t rain a lot) but people always expect it to rain more and always greet the rain with smiles as there is a general belief ‘it washes away the bad’. And also you can feel this calmness in the air after a rain , everyone is happier. Always found it weird.
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
27 Jul 22
Yes, we tend to expect things to be regular. In Japan it's volcanoes, earthquakes and typhoons. We need a few good typhoons this year to replenish our water supply, to be honest.
1 person likes this
@Nakitakona (56486)
• Philippines
31 Jul 22
Today we're experiencing heavy downpour due to Typhoon Ester. Last Wednesday morning, 7 3 earthquake rocked the Abra province leaving some houses and old buildings fell on the ground.
