Court Rejects Damages Suit By Relatives Of Mt. Ontake Eruption Victims
A district court in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, has dismissed a damages lawsuit filed by relatives of victims of the eruption of Mount Ontake eight years ago.
The volcanic mountain straddling Nagano and Gifu prefectures erupted in September 2014, leaving 63 people dead or missing.
A total of 32 plaintiffs, including bereaved families, sued the government and Nagano Prefecture for 376 million yen, or about 2.74 million dollars, in damages.
The plaintiffs said that before the eruption, the Meteorological Agency observed volcanic earthquakes exceeding a benchmark for raising its volcanic alert level from 1 to 2 on a scale of 1 to 5, but failed to do so. They also blamed the prefecture for failing to repair seismometers.
The government asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed, saying the accuracy of technology to predict volcanic eruptions is still insufficient. It also said it can't say that the process by which weather officials decided not to raise the alert level was extremely unreasonable.
In handing down the ruling on Wednesday, presiding judge Yamashiro Tsukasa of the Nagano District Court Matsumoto branch said the number of volcanic earthquakes is a benchmark for raising volcanic alert levels, but deciding whether to do so should be done comprehensively by taking into account other factors. The judge added that the Meteorological Agency cannot be said to have been obliged to immediately raise the level at the time.