Thousands Flee Threat of Volcano

MANILA — Thousands of people began fleeing a volcanic island south of Manila on Saturday after scientists warned that earthquakes and steaming fissures indicated there could be an eruption within weeks.

Scientists recorded 406 rock-fracturing quakes during a 29-hour period at Taal volcano, one of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes, about 35 miles south of Manila.

Last June, the Mt. Pinatubo volcano, about 60 miles north of Manila, erupted. More than 700 people died as a result of the eruptions, which forced the U.S. Air Force to close nearby Clark Air Base.

In 1901, a Taal eruption killed 2,000 people and wiped out dozens of villages. An eruption in 1965 killed 300 people. There were no casualties reported in the last eruption, in 1977.