A street in Takamori in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, is covered by volcanic ash on Oct. 21, 2021, a day after an eruption of nearby Mt. Aso. (Kyodo)
KUMAMOTO, Japan (Kyodo) -- Cleanup work in areas surrounding Mt. Aso began Thursday, a day after an eruption at the volcano in southwestern Japan caused pyroclastic flows there for the first time since 2016.
A street-sweeping truck cleared away ash in the Kumamoto Prefecture town of Takamori, with workers expected to collect several dozen tons of volcanic debris through Thursday, according to town authorities.
The eruption from Mt. Aso's No. 1 Nakadake crater sent a column of ash about 3,500 meters into the air. The volcanic alert level for the mountain was raised to 3 on a scale of 5, with entry restricted to areas within 2 kilometers of the crater.
"Living here, the risk of being affected by volcanic ash is unavoidable. I want to clean up the roads so that they can be used with peace of mind," said Toru Iwashita, a senior official from Takamori which is located just south of the volcano.
There were 16 climbers on the volcano at the time of the eruption, but all walked off the mountain uninjured. In order that other climbers are aware of the situation, the city of Aso set up a temporary office at the foot of the volcano.
Kumamoto Gov. Ikuo Kabashima said after visiting Takamori and the city of Aso that while "the vicinity of the crater is off-limits, unrestricted areas are not dangerous to visit."
Despite this, he expressed concern about the eruption's possible impact on tourism and farming in the prefecture.
However, on Thursday high school students visiting on a field trip from Osaka were unperturbed as they watched smoke billowing from the volcano from an area outside of the no-go zone.
According to an investigation by the Japan Meteorological Agency, evidence of pyroclastic flows was observed 1.6 km north of the Nakadake crater's center and 1 km to the west.
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