Miyake-jima

Web Page by K. Stern

The last visit to Miyake-jima was during the Spring of 2000. You can see those pictures on the page for that extended campus trup to Miyake.

The website  http://miyakejima.net is a Japanese site and, for best results, requires a browser with Japanese fonts installed.

As many people in Japan know, Miyake-jima erupted recently. This has been a major event in Japan. If you live in Japan you probably know what I am talking about. However, for those that don't live in Japan, I will explain what I am talking (or typing about).

At Miyake-jima, an island 160km away from Japan, ashes were found on Mt. Oyama on 7/7/00 at 18:43. On 7/9/00 03:57, an earthquake hit Japan. Mt. Oyama was effected by this earthquake too. On 7/14/00 at 15:50, Mt.Oyama erupted. Ashes went as high as 1500 meters. According  to Koichi Fujii (http://miyakejima.net), people heard an explosion from the mountain. On 7/14/00 at 16:40, the people living on Miyakejima were told to evacuate.

However, on 7/17/00 at 9:00, the evacuation was canceled. It was thought that Miyakejima was now safe to return. The people returned to their homes with a sigh of relief. The people who lived on Miyake did not know that another eruption was yet to come. On 8/18/00 at 17:02, Miyake erupted again. This time it was a much larger explosion...

As you can see, many animals died too.

The larger explosion.