Alert level raised for volcano on southwestern Japan island

The alert level for a volcano on a southwestern Japan island was raised Monday after a large-scale earthquake was recorded near the crater the previous night, Japan's weather agency said.The volcano warning level for Mt. Shindake on Kuchinoerabu Island in Kagoshima Prefecture was upgraded from 2 to 3 on a scale of 5, which asks climbers to refrain from scaling the mountain, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.The mountain had a series of eruptions with pyroclastic flows last December and January, but the alert level was lowered from 3 to 2 in June when no eruptions had been observe…READ FULL ARTICLE