Site/Sight Of A Volcanic Final Stand

As some of you may know I am a bit haunted by final stands. Indeed I wonder if I am being prepared mentally-emotionally-psychologically-spiritually for this eventuality in my future. If this is the case I am in complete acceptance and peace with this and feel honored to be chosen thus. In any case whenever I encounter a story of such a scenario I am drawn to it.

The latest such story is that of the recent surprise eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan on September 27th which killed 67 day hikers including Izume Noguchi (pictured below) who snapped three amazing images of the ash cloud hurling towards him right before he died of which two of those images are featured below.

Izume Noguchi in the final hours of his life as captured in his own camera by an unknown photographer.

The first image of the eruption captured by Izume Noguchi.

The third image captured by Izume Noguchi who shot one more image which shows the man at right with the blue cap running towards the camera from the euption from a location around the corner to the left of the building. I did not include it here as I could not find a decent-sized version of it but it appears quite similar. Both men in this image were killed as well as Mr. Noguchi shooting these images and 65 other people.

This is a more distant view from down the mountain of the same eruption at about the same time or some seconds later.
Photo courtesy Associated Press and Kyodo News Agency.

Izume Noguchi's unscorched cameras found with his body suggesting he was killed by asphyxia and not thermal shock.
Photo credit unknown to me (all rights reserved).

This is the building seen in the Izume Noguchi images above and where he likely died. I was unaware that such a fantasy-inspiring, Tolkien-esque place existed on Earth made all the more LOTR-ish by the devastated look of it evoking mental images of the aftermath of an attack by Smaug.
Photo credit unknown.

A more distant view of the structure seen in the Noguchi images but showing some additional structures below it. The entire scene does not even look real but rather like a CGI-generated image.
Photo courtesy Kyodo News Agency.

This image places the source volcanic vent in a physical context to Mr. Noguchi's location at the time he shot his final photographs with his last stand being at the top-most structure. Note the "daylighted" roofs caused by volcanic missles and/or the weight of the ash deposits on the rooftops.
Photo courtesy Reuters/Kyodo News Agencies.