For thousands of years, volcanic eruptions have shaken human civilizations. They explode every 17,000 years and are 1,000 times more powerful than the 1980 Mount St Helens explosion, the worst in US history.
Early on Jan. 22, a powerful offshore earthquake shook Oita and Miyazaki prefectures in southern Japan, inflicting minor injuries among startled people but no substantial damage aside from ruptured water mains.