TOKYO (AP)
_ Two hundred residents boarded boats and fled a small island
south of Tokyo on Saturday _ the latest exodus amid fears that
a "fairly big" eruption could spout from a reawakened
volcano, a local official said. With Saturday"s departures,
almost one-third of Miyake island"s 3,850 residents have
left for other parts of Japan since Aug. 19, said local official
Takashi Hasegawa.
The exodus
began a day after Mount Oyama threw up a five-mile column of ash
mixed with volcanic rock on Aug. 18. It was the biggest eruption
since the 2,686-foot volcano rumbled back to life on July 9. "People
are leaving because there"s a possibility of a fairly big
eruption," Hasegawa said. He said 1,152 people have fled
Miyake island, including 211 children, or about two-thirds of
the island"s school population. Most have sought refuge in
Tokyo, about 120 miles to the north.
Experts speculate
that shifts in huge underground pools of magma are responsible
for recent volcanic and seismic activity on Miyake, part of a
chain of volcanic islands off Tokyo that stretch 335 miles from
north to south. Mount Oyama"s last big eruption was in 1983.
Five hundred homes were destroyed when lava flowed over its western
flank, though timely evacuations prevented any casualties.
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