UN warns Pacific Ring of Fire is ’active’ as volcanoes erupt across Asia

Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in Asia and Alaska over two days show that the Pacific Ring of Fire is "active", said the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction on Tuesday (Jan 23).

A powerful quake hit the Gulf of Alaska in the early hours of Tuesday; a relatively shallow magnitude-6 quake struck off Indonesia's Java in the afternoon; and the sudden eruption of Mount Kasatsu-Shirane in Japan killed one person and injured at least 11.

In the Philippines, Mount Mayon continues to erupt, sending lava and larger plumes of ash higher into the sky.

Territories on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates meet, see frequent seismic and volcanic activity. 

More than half of the world's active volcanoes above sea level encircle the Pacific Ocean, and about 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes occur in this zone, according to the US Geological Survey.

Pacific Ring of Fire active today. #switch2sendai #earthquake #volcano
- PH : Mayon Volcano erupted, 1,000s evacuees
- Japan: Volcano causes avalanche, one death
- Indonesia: 5.3 earthquake jolts Jakarta, buildings swayed
- Alaska: 7.9 Magnitude earthquake led to tsunami alert. pic.twitter.com/q1rz0Dbvxr

— UNISDR (@unisdr) January 23, 2018

Japan is one of the world's most seismically active nations and on Wednesday, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck off the the island of Honshu, not far from Hokkaido island.