A major cluster of volcanoes in Japan could be set to erupt after officials raised the warning to the highest level. The country’s meteorological agency lifted the warning on Zao, a series of volcanoes in northern Japan whose highest point is 1,841 meters (6,040 ft). It comes a week after another volcanic eruption in Japan killed one man and left dozens of others injured at a tourist ski resort. The Zao warning increased from two from one, meaning that people should avoid going near the crater. “There is a possibility of a small-scale eruption,” the Japan Meteorological Agency said in a statement.

The agency said small earth movements were detected on Tuesday, along with a slight bulging of the ground in one area. It also warned of the possibility that volcanic rocks could be thrown as far as a mile in any eruption. The announcement came a week after a member of Japan’s military was struck and killed when rocks from the sudden eruption of the Kusatsu-Shirane volcano which rained down on skiers at a mountain resort in central Japan. READ MORE