Experts warn that as many as 750,000 would evacuate if Mount Fuji erupts

Volcano experts have warned that as many as 750,000 people may be forced to flee their homes if Japan's Mount Fuji erupts.

The 3,776-metre mountain - which was recently added to the Unesco World Heritage list - last erupted in 1707, but it is still classified as dormant rather than being labelled extinct.

A panel of experts was set up by three local authorities that share the peak, prompted in part by the upcoming third anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11.

A draft version of the panel's report, which is due to be completed in the early part of next year, says that 470,000 people will have to be evacuated if more than 30cm of volcanic ash settles on the ground. That figure climbs to 750,000 people leaving their homes if lava flows similar to the 1707 eruption occur.

Retired professor Shigeo Aramaki, who is on the expert panel, said there was a need for those living near Mount Fuji to be ready for a worst-case scenario, although he said it was notoriously tricky to predict significant seismic movements.

"A very large-scale disaster has a very low probability, although smaller-scale incidents will occur more frequently," he told the South China Morning Post.