Though Friday marked three months since Mount Usu first started erupting March 30, nearly 2,300 residents of the Lake Toya hot spring resort area who were evacuated to public facilities and temporary prefabricated houses in safer areas are still unable to return home.
The first of the eruptions occurred at 1:10 p.m. on March 30, opening cracks on the slopes of the 732-meter volcano, located 70 km southwest of Sapporo.
Volcanic activities on Mount Usu seem to have subsided since then, but the government has yet to lift the evacuation order for the area.
Hokkaido University professor Hiroshi Okada, who serves as chairman of the Coordinating Committee for the Prediction of Volcanic Eruptions, a government panel of volcano experts, said underground magma is no longer moving toward the surface of the mountain.