CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: After rumbling for days, giving residents plenty of time to flee to safety, the Mt. Usu volcano in northern Japan erupted today. Our Tokyo bureau chief Marina Kamimura joins us now by telephone with the latest on that situation -- Marina.</s>MARINA KAMIMURA, CNN TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Carol, Mt. Usu continues to release smoke and ash into the atmosphere at this hour, this some nine hours after it first started erupting this afternoon local time. Still no signs of lava bubbling out of the volcano, though, nor any injuries, something observers here are crediting on the precautionary measures that authorities here took ahead of time. Since the area began experiencing this intense series of tremors from Tuesday, at times as many as an a hundred an hour were being reported, authorities have been busy evacuating residents and preparing for Usu to possibly erupt again, the first time it's done so in 22 years. And so some 10,000 residents have been evacuated from the area, which is also a popular hot spring resort for tourists, even before the eruption occurred. When Usu finally decided to do this afternoon, apparently the result of magma or lava underground coming into contact with water inside the volcano, some residents say they didn't even realize it was erupting until they heard local sirens sounds, because there was no big bang or explosion. Instead, initially, there was a bit of white smoke coming out, later followed by the big clouds of black smoke, ash and rocks, which have now blanketed much of the surrounding area. Experts continue to monitor the volcano at this hour, although it's getting much more difficult to see what's happening since it's, of course, already 10:30 in the evening here. There's ash and smoke still in the air, and it's pitch black outside -- Carol.</s>LIN: Certainly dramatic pictures from Mt. Usu. Thank you very much, Marina Kamimura. Search CNN.com CNNSI.com CNNmoney.com The Web
Precautionary Measures Result in No Injuries After Mt. Usu Erupts