Miyakejima - An Island where residents always have to wear gas masks to stay alive

Currently, the Coronavirus has spread its limits in the world in such a way that the entire world has been locked down and due to which people have been imprisoned in their own homes. And even if you ever have to go out, it has become very mandatory for everyone to wear masks. In the time of this crisis, if we have to wear masks for a while, we get frustrated very quickly but do you know that there is a place in the world where people have to wear masks for 24 hours a day? The place is named Miyakejima which is an island located in Japan. People on this island do not wear masks with their own choice or happiness, rather they have to do this to save their lives. Actually, there is a big reason behind this whole concept, due to which they have to do all this despite not wanting. So let's know the whole story behind it.

Image Source- Flickr

Actually, Miyakejima is an inhabited volcanic island, which is one of Japan’s Izu Islands, an archipelago just south of Tokyo. The Izu Islands are a group of many small and large islands but only seven of them are inhabited which are referred to as the "Izu Seven". These seven islands are Oshima, Mikurajima, Toshima, Hachijojima, Kozujima, Niijima, and Miyakejima. Although Aogashima and Shikinejima are sometimes included. Oshima is the largest and Toshima is the smallest island among these Islands. But the Izu Island that we are talking about here is Miyakejima, however, all the Izu Islands lie on an active volcanic belt, but Miyakejima has a very active volcano, Mount Oyama, which has been erupted many times throughout history, causing the emission of extremely high levels of toxic gas in the area. As it is a volcanic island, the people here always have a fear of a volcanic eruption that can occur at any time.

The island has experienced several volcanic eruptions over the past century, the last major eruption occurred in 2000, which was an extremely dreadful eruption. The eruption emitted large amounts of toxic gases that were released along with lava, mainly sulfur dioxide. Not only this, even after this eruption a constant flow of these toxic gases continued to release from the volcano. Miyakejima Island was completely evacuated after the 2000's eruption, but the residents were allowed to settle again on the island back in 2005, after a four-year period of continued volcanic emissions. However, residents were allowed to settle on the island again, but a warning was also given that they would have to wear a gas mask at all times, as they had to do to protect themselves from these toxic gases. The amount of toxic gases in the air here is much higher than the normal level. Flights here were resumed in April 2008 after suspension for nearly eight years after 2000's eruption.

Residents wearing masks

N95 respirator mask or normal masks are being used to avoid the coronavirus, while the masks that people used in Miyakejima Island are not just ordinary masks. These specially designed masks are called gas masks, used especially to protect the person from inhaling toxic gases and airborne pollutants. Adventure tourists also visit the island but they are strictly required to carry gas masks as soon as they reached on the island. After their arrival, gas masks are available at many tourist shops on the island. In the tourism world, the island is famous as gas mask tourism. The main attraction of the island is the empty houses whose owners have never returned to the island, and these empty houses are the buildings that are destroyed by lava. Gas mask tourism is the main source of income for the residents here. The island of Miyakejima is also known for its rich flora and fauna, which contains many rare species of birds and animals, but they are greatly influenced by human and volcanic activities here.