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Hundreds
of earthquakes have struck an active volcano in central
Japan over the past two days, raising fears of an eruption,
the Meteorological Agency said Tuesday.
Mount
Asama, on the border of Nagano and Gunma prefectures,
was shaken by 138 tremors Monday, compared with about
10 daily in recent months. By late Tuesday, there were
an average of 40 volcanic tremors an hour.
The
local observatory in Nagano prefecture said it was too
early to know if the quakes would cause Mount Asama, 90
miles northwest of Tokyo, to erupt. The tremors are too
weak to be felt by humans.
No
one was evacuated because of the increased activity.
The
volcano, which spews small amounts of steam, has been
calm for 217 years. A major eruption of the 8,423-foot
volcano in 1783 killed 1,151 people.
Earlier
this month, all 4,000 residents on Miyakejima, an island
118 miles south of Tokyo, were forced to leave the island
after a volcano there erupted several times since July.
On Sept. 4, Mount Komagatake on Japan's northern main
island of Hokkaido erupted for the first time in nearly
two years, spewing ash and white smoke.
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