M8.5 quake hits Kanto
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002188062
The Yomiuri Shimbun
A powerful magnitude-8.5 quake with an epicenter off the Ogasawara islands occurred at around 8:24 p.m. Saturday. A strong jolt was felt throughout the Kanto region.
Upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 was felt on Hahajima island, Ogasawara, Tokyo and Ninomiya, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Lower 5 was recorded in Kasukabe, Konosu and Miyashiro, Saitama Prefecture.
No tsunami warning has been issued.Speech
Passengers look up an electric signboard showing information regarding the suspension of some train services at JR Tokyo Station at 9:05 p.m. Saturday, shortly after a strong earthquake hit the Kanto region.
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002166744
Volcano broods over vacant island
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002187569
Continued eruptions of Mt. Shindake on Kuchinoerabujima island in Kagoshima Prefecture likely stopped at 10:50 a.m. on Saturday, the Japan Meteorological Agency announced. After the massive eruption at the 626-meter-high volcano on Friday, all residents on the island evacuated.
However, its volcanic activity has not ended, and the agency calls for vigilance as there is a possibility that an explosive eruption could occur again in the future. The volcano has been kept at the volcanic alert Level 5, which calls for evacuation.
Black fumes that had continued after the eruption until Saturday morning have apparently dissipated, according to the agency. The number of volcanic earthquakes, which have occurred nearly 200 times since Friday’s explosive eruption, decreased sharply to just three from midnight to 9 a.m. Saturday.
“Although it’s difficult to predict eruptions in the future, the situation has become more stable now,” said an official in charge at the agency.
Meanwhile, at around 4:10 a.m. Saturday, the agency observed that an area on the mountainside of Mt. Shindake was glowing red. Pyroclastic flows are believed to have gone in all directions from the crater and have spread along areas that account for about 20 percent of the 36-square-kilometer island, the agency said.
A government mission, including Ryosei Akazawa, a state minister of the Cabinet Office, entered the town of Yakushima on Saturday. Of the 137 people who had been on the island, including people evacuated from Kuchinoerabujima island to Yakushima island and tourists, 83 people spent the night at evacuation centers, while the remaining 54 stayed at their relatives’ houses and other places, according to sources.