Mount Ontake (御嶽山, Ontake-san), also referred to as Mount Kiso Ontake (木曽御嶽山, Kiso Ontake-san), is the 14th highest mountain and second-highest volcano in Japan, after Mount Fuji, at 3,067 m. It is included in 100 Famous Japanese Mountains.
Mt. Ontake is located around 100 km northeast of Nagoya, and around 200 km west of Tokyo, at the borders of Kiso and Ōtaki, Nagano Prefecture, and Gero, Gifu Prefecture. The volcano has five crater lakes, with Ni no Ike (二ノ池) at 2,905 m being the highest mountain lake in Japan.
Ontake is a major sacred mountain, and following older shamanistic practices, actors and artists have gone to the mountain to put themselves into trances in order to get divine inspiration for their creative activities.
Ontake was thought to be inactive until October 1979, when it underwent a series of explosive phreatic eruptions which ejected 200,000 tons of ash, and had a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 2. There were minor non-explosive (VEI 0) phreatic eruptions in 1991 and 2007.
More information: The Atlantic
September, 27 2014. The volcanic eruption happened at 11:52 Japan Standard Time (UTC+9). There were no significant earthquakes that might have warned authorities in the lead up to the phreatic eruption -caused by groundwater flashing to steam in a hydrothermal explosion.
The mountain is a popular tourist attraction for hikers, being considered good for beginner climbers and relatively safe, and the weather was also good, so there were several hundred people on its slopes at the time.
The police said that they were searching for people remaining on the mountain. By 17:00 the police reported that three people were missing and were believed to be under ash. Another person was rescued from under the volcanic ash, but remained unconscious. Six people were injured, one by flying rocks.
By 19:30, the number of people believed to remain buried in ash rose to six. Nine people had been reported to be injured, five of whom had fractured bones. Later, at least 40 people were reported to be injured, and another 32 were believed to be missing. The JSDF began carrying out helicopter searches for missing people. One woman was reported to have died from the eruption.
On September 28, the police reported that over 30 people had been found in cardiac arrest near the summit. Japanese emergency services often refer to people who show no vital signs, and are apparently dead, as being in cardiac arrest, as legally, only an authorized physician can pronounce a person dead.
More information: Smithsonian Institution-Global Volcanism Program
By September 29, a total of 36 bodies had been found, and 12 people had been pronounced dead; the search was suspended due to dangerous conditions, including hydrogen sulphide gas spewing from the mountain.
On September 30, fears of escalating volcanic activity on Mount Ontake continued to hinder rescue efforts.
On October 1, 2014, eleven new bodies were discovered by rescuers on the slopes of Mount Ontake after searching in previously unexplored areas of the ash-covered peak, bringing the total body count from 36 to 47; a revision after an erroneous initial count of 48.
On October 4, 2014, four new bodies were discovered by rescuers on the slopes of Mount Ontake after searching in previously unexplored areas away from trekking roads. Those four were confirmed to have died.
Typhoon Phanfone prevented searching activities from October 5 till 6.
On October 7, three more bodies were discovered, bringing the total of confirmed deaths to 54.
As of October 11, the death toll was at 56. The victims of the Mount Ontake eruption were mourned on October 27, as authorities and residents marked a month since the volcano killed 57 people and left 6 others missing.
The Mount Ontake volcano eruption was an extremely rare phenomenon, which made it difficult to take precautionary measures.
63 people were killed; five bodies were never found. The Japan
Self-defence Forces began carrying out helicopter searches for missing
people after the eruption.
More information: The Conversation
that I don't care if I die tomorrow.
Maurice Krafft
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