Lightning and fire: Japan on alert after volcano's biggest eruption in 50 years

Lightning and fire: Japan on alert after volcano's biggest eruption in 50 years

www.dailymail.co.uk

A one-mile cordon has been established around a volcano on Mount Kirishima after it erupted scattering rocks and ash across southern Japan and sending smoke billowing 5,000ft into the air.

The Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert to level 3 as ash today continued to spew from Shinmoedake on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, and residents have been banned from going within a mile of the volcano following its worst eruption in 50 years.



Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

(visit the link for the full news article)

The thing that really struck me about this picture is how the lightning seems to be coming FROM the volcano! Way too cool.

How many Volcanic eruptions and mass animal dieoffs and Earthquakes have to happen before the msm can't chalk it up to being "Normal" anymore??? It is happening and we all know it. Some are just more willing to know it than others.
I pray for the people who this affects. and I hope I am wrong and everything is "Normal" so I can go shopping at Wal-Mart this weekend.
www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Whoever captured that pictured with the lightning deserves an award! Wow!

reply to post by Screwed


and this is just the beginning..

Other volcanoes are becoming more active as well. Even the big boys are stirring. Do you ever wonder if you're witnessing the end of this world as we know it?

I swear there is a prophecy somewhere saying that Japan get's destroyed by earthquakes? And since volcanoes tend to be triggered by earthquakes, i think it's something too keep in the back of your mind .

reply to post by willie9696


I dont think we should start panicking yet, but seismic activity has been increasing for years. Check this link.

www.earth.webecs.co.uk...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/914da79f9fe2.jpg[/atsimg]

Amazing photo, the earth is fighting back, hope who ever is in its path evacuates. It may look awesome but very dangerous.

I posted about this earlier but guess the title the news site used didn't really help with making it worth reading hehe

Originally posted here
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Screwed


While I agree that we recieve far more information about disaster events than we used to, you also have to remember that in some of these cases, they are being reported more widely than they used to be. Flooding and volcano eruptions are dime a dozen. They happen all the time. But crucialy they are reported on more these days, and I posit that there are several reasons for this.
The first reason is, that since computing and media has become wireless, and images can be sent in HD from point to point with no massive limitations involved, this has meant far more flexibility and maneouvreability in terms of where you can and cannot report from, send video from and so on. The availability of videographic or photographic pieces where news reporting is concerned has increased, and so more of these disasters are reported on, because its increasingly easy for shots to be aquired of floods , and volcanic eruptions, and the moment earthquakes strike, and the devastation caused by Tsunami and other natural disasters. The easier the video and pictographic data comes into a news broadcaster or publisher, the more likely they are to create a bulletin about it. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen far more frequently than they are reported on. Its not as if every tornado season the BBC sits in Tornado Alley for three or four months waiting for something to happen. Instead they usualy wait it out, and see what happens, collecting and compiling localy sourced video and photographs IF a human interest story breaks to illustrate any possible story they may decide to run on the issue.
Second, the western ecconomies are having it pretty hard right now, what with the banking crisis, the recession that we are out of, but seem to be in danger of sliding back into, bankers bonuses, and the like. When times are as tough as they are, and are going to get tougher, one of the ways that governments like to use to keep people focused on the positive points of life, is to remind them how much worse off they could be. Yeah sure the banks are foreclosing on your house, and you are being evicted by burly chaps in overalls , but at least you havent got lungs full of BURNING LAVA !
Now, naive people amongst us will shout " But wait, arent media outlets independantly owned, run, and free from political bias or control ?? Dont they run stories that the government dont want told ??" Well ,to those of you who genuinely believe that, I advise to look beyond the stories run, and the outward intention of editors and reporters alike, and really observe the sociological effects of the stories that are run over the course of two decades, and see what you think then. Im not going to explain it to you, you have to look for yourself to get the idea , but the gist is they can be owned as independantly as they like, but in terms of lack of bias or political control? They arent as free as people would love to think. So to summarise my point, reportage is biased in terms of what is happening in the land which it is published in, and that goes to what stories run and which do not, as well as how they are spun, and what the tone of the article may be.
Third point. Reportage on disasters and natural phenomena has increased markedly over the last little while because people are hungry for it. People love spectacle, are addicted to events of great wonderment or importance. Imagine you are sitting in a doctors office, and the news is on. You will listen to the pundits prattling about GDP, and the representatives of government whining about how much of a mess they are in, and the campaigners from civillian groups shouting to be heard above the ceaseless drunken blabbering of various fat men in suits, and the average person will pay only minimal attention to this noise, and these figures on the TV.
But when there are explosions, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, large scale industrial accidents, and floods, people turn thier heads and pay attention! That is because these spectacles are the sort which make the imagination fire, the sort of stories which make peoples fear responses kick in, and slightly raise the levels of attention that are payed to the TV , at least for the duration of the piece.
Some people go as far as to only buy a paper, when there has been a massive disaster or catastrophy , like a war, or a flood or something of that gravitas. This may seem odd to you and me, because friends, this is a site for people who like to keep abreast of the news, and are often ahead of the BBC on picking up on a story (for instance, the BBC news channel showed only yesterday a piece on the work of scientists in rewinding the aging process in mice. This story was here on ATS quite some time ago, but only just got air time on BBC).
In short ,our relatively up to the miniute idea of remaining informed, is not the same idea that many folks have of keeping abreast of current affairs. Most people couldnt , in thier worst nightmares imagine the amount of terrible, awful things that happen in a year, be they political, martial, natural or technological. We are therefore exposed far more often to news which most folks wont even hear. This can give the impression that more is happening. I do not think its accurate to assume this, rather I believe that we simply have better access to fresh information , than we did before our membership of this site came about.
I was a total news freak since about age five. Its always been one of my favourite shows (and then when BBC news 24 happened, channels) . Even so, I found my access to information massively increased when I joined this site in '07 . It has become apparant since , that disaster reporting is more prevalent when there is a dire circumstance close at hand in the nation in which a story will be published.

reply to post by Aquarius1


Is that photo for real?

That is photo of the year if it is real.... mind you we are only at the end of Jan

But yeh, i wrote on another thread that i woke up a few mornings ago with a feeling of impending doom plus i've also posted on another thread about a few days of darkness in the region of Bangkok but japan isnt far from there so could be it...

reply to post by TrueBrit


Alright truebrit, you will do just fine to answer my question.
Please indulge me.

How many of these "events" need to happen for YOU personally to change your worldview and accept that these events are far from normal everyday occurances that are just over reported by the msm?

How many birds and fish have to die?
How many Volcanoes have to erupt?
How many devestating earthquakes have to happen?
How many Tsunamis?
How many people have to die?

I need a number.
I am not disagreeing with you btw. You could very well be right and I hope you are. But the question remains, is there EVER going to be a point when YOU and people like YOU can no longer chalk these events up to "NORMAL"?

Going forward, I fine that we have seen very little activity on our side or the world.. as of right now...

Not certain if we could expect more soon.

Looking to hear more from my Son who resides within Seattle Wa. area.

www.iris.edu...

It's the quiet ones to look out for..

Jesse

reply to post by Screwed



Thats an understandable question I suppose. I dont know that its appropriate to assume that numbers come into it however. I think when Earthquakes of devastating proportions happen to places which are not on fault lines (the UK for example), and when snow kills several million people in typicaly tropical climates, and when traditionaly warm places like the Sahara and Death Valley flood , then I will assume that these are un natural and unusual events.
It is not the case for example that volcanic activity has been reported in areas where it is absolutely unheard of. All the volcanism that has occured recently , has occured in locations KNOWN to be geologicaly active to a degree. Put another way, no one will be shocked when Yellowstone National Park goes boom, or at least, those who are suprised havent been paying attention.
However, if Mount Snowdon which is in Wales in the UK blows its top, now that would be strange, that would be unprecidented, and it would be un natural.
All the flooding that has happened recently , has happened in places where floods are a familiar hazard, and the deadly quakes that killed hundreds of thousands in Haiti were only so devastating because of thier magnitude , and the fact that Haitian building quality is lower than a bathospheric observatory in an oceanic trench.
In any case, the only disaster statistics which are comprehensive enough to take a decent analysis from, only go back twenty five years. Up until 1980 no one really paid a whole hell of a lot of attention to natural disasters from a statistical point of veiw, and Im sure you realise just how little use a 25 year history of disasters would be. It would be as much use as a history of the Roman Empire , detailing the first five days of its existance!
We havent the data required to make a decent assesment about how "strange" the numbers are these days, because the planet on which we live goes through cycles of change that last centuaries in geological terms, and what happens with the geology of this planet affects its meterology as well. Now Im not saying that the increases in hydro meteorological disasters like floods, drought, hurricanes, typhoons and tsunami are concerned are normal. They could well be down to global warming, and the death tolls down to inadvisable building on flood plains over the last two and a half decades, in the cases of flooding at any rate. However, in terms of taking the honest, statistical approach, we havent got enough decades worth of data. I say again, measuring the behaviour of a planet toward its inhabitants over such a puny time scale is utterly foolish, and provides no firm basis for an opinion either way.

I hope everyone will be alright - Japan has their share of volcano eruptions. The lighting photo is amazing as well as the other photos. S @ F

Originally posted by Screwed

How many Volcanic eruptions and mass animal dieoffs and Earthquakes have to happen before the msm can't chalk it up to being "Normal" anymore??? It is happening and we all know it. Some are just more willing to know it than others.

msm doesn't wake up because it is a propaganda tool of the government

wow thats an awesome photo and somebody said before it does look like the lightning is coming from the volcano im in new zealand and we just had a 5.9 earthquake just north of lake taupo and thats a massive volcano here last time it erupted it could be seen as far as japan thats scary!!!

reply to post by Screwed


Great pic but it doesn't sound all that dangerous if they have only stopped people from coming within a mile..
That's not a big evacuation zone at all.

and residents have been banned from going within a mile of the volcano following its worst eruption in 50 years.

s&f for the pic, awesome..

reply to post by Screwed


After a second good look that pic looks fake...
Lightning seems backwards, stars are not right and why is there glowing red flames high in the smoke.???

Also, in all of the pics the sky looks clear of storm clouds, so where did the lightning come from??

reply to post by Screwed


UM is it just me or is it really weird that lightening struck the middle of the volcano....

what are the chances of that happening like a billion to one?