As if an earthquake, tsunami and potential nuclear meltdown weren't enough... now disaster-ravaged Japan suffers a volcanic eruption

Hundreds flee as ash and rock shoots two miles into air

Not yet known if eruption is result of Friday's earthquake

Explosion shattered windows four miles away



A volcano has erupted in Japan, compounding the problems in the disaster-ravaged country.

Following Friday's megaquake and resulting tsunami which took the lives of thousands along the east coast, the Shinmoedake volcano in south-western Japan erupted yesterday, sending ash and rock over two miles into the air.



The explosion shattered windows as far as four miles away, adding to the terror the country has suffered over the past few days.

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The Shinmoedake volcano in the Kirishima range in south-western Japan erupted yesterday

Hundreds fled as roasting hot ash rained down from the mountain. An area of over a mile around the volcano was evacuated

An area of over a mile around the volcano, located in the Kirishima range on the southern Kyushu island, was evacuated and hundreds fled as roasting hot ash rained down from the mountain.

A volcano warning at level three out of five is currently in place, but that could be increased since it is believed a dome if lava is now forming in the crater.



It is not yet known if the eruption 950 miles from the epicentre of Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake was triggered by the resulting seismic activity.

It is the second time this year the 1,421-metre volcano has erupted.

Smoke rising from Mt. Shinmoedake in January. It is the second time this year the 1,421-metre volcano has erupted

Japan has been plagued by close to 300 aftershocks since Friday's megaquake, and experts have no idea when they will stop.



Meanwhile, Japan is today fighting to avoid a nuclear catastrophe as one over-heating reactor lost its cooling capacity at a tsunami-hit power plant in Fukushima - in the wake of explosions at another two reactors on the same site.

Engineers have been fighting to keep the reactors under control after the tsunami knocked out emergency coolant systems on Friday and avoid a nuclear disaster which would make even worse what Japan's prime minister has called the 'worst crisis in the 65 years since the war'.