About 8,000 residents were evacuated after a small active volcano near Manila spewed a massive cloud of ash on Sunday that drifted across the city, as experts warned of another possibility of "hazardous explosive eruption."

People residing near the Taal volcano and other high-risk areas were asked to leave by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council after it suddenly shot a column of ash and steam as high as 15 kilometres (9 miles) into the sky, Al Jazeera reported.