Japan’s Volcanic Eruption Causes Ecological Disaster

On July 3, Japan’s Mount Niigata volcano on the island of Kyushu erupted, with ash columns as high as 5,000 meters, equivalent to the height of 13 Tokyo Towers stacked on top of each other. The eruption led to the closure of the Kagoshima airport for 72 hours, and the surrounding 1,200 square kilometers of farmland were covered by ash, reducing crop yields by 30%, and exposing Miyazaki Prefecture to the risk of contamination of tea and citrus. The eruption exposed gaps in Japan’s volcanic disaster prevention system.