At least 32 people are feared dead and 134 injured after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck one of the southern islands of the Philippines, officials said. Search and rescue operations are being stepped up.
The quake, which triggered tsunami warnings across several countries, hit early in the morning about 20km off Sarangani province, with the tremors felt strongly across Mindanao and 420km away in the city of Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
The Philippines mobilised military and disaster response teams and authorities were verifying preliminary reports of 32 people killed and 134 injured across Mindanao, mostly from falling debris and landslides, according to civil defence officials.
Tsunami warnings were cancelled after more than six hours in the southern Philippines, northern Indonesia and the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, where residents in coastal areas had been told to move immediately to higher ground.
The disaster came eight months after the Philippines suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, when a shallow 6.9 magnitude quake hit off the central island of Cebu, killing 79 people. Two powerful quakes struck Mindanao two weeks later, the strongest at a magnitude 7.4.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered an immediate disaster response in Mindanao, an island the size of South Korea, with agencies directed to prepare relief supplies and evacuation centres and be ready for possible rescue operations. “The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind,” he said in a statement.
A video shared by the local government showed the collapse of a building housing a fast food restaurant, with panicked onlookers fleeing as a cloud of dust spread quickly through the air.
A hospital in General Santos was evacuated due to concerns about cracks on higher floors. One of the buildings at the city's Notre Dame of Dadiangas University collapsed, but no one was inside.
“I had to duck and shelter myself under the table,” university president Manuel de Leon told broadcaster DZMM.
Strong aftershocks
The Philippine seismology agency said there were more than 200 aftershocks, at least nine of which were strong and felt across Mindanao, the highest at a magnitude 6.7.
The quake struck just as schools were returning from a long break. A video shared by one school of the moment the quake struck showed a large group of children sitting on the floor swaying rapidly from side to side, some hugging teachers, before fleeing en masse as a makeshift shelter collapsed behind them.
Benjie Ancheta, police chief of Sarangani's Alabel town, said the quake occurred during a police flag-raising ceremony, causing some people to faint. “This is the strongest earthquake we've experienced,” he said by phone.
Tsunami detected
The US Tsunami Warning System said multiple countries could be affected, and Australia initially warned of potential tsunami waves on its northern coasts.
Japan's meteorological agency issued an advisory and said a tsunami of 0.2 metres or lower had been observed, with some disruption to ferries and precautionary beach closures.
Witnesses in Indonesia's Manado said they felt the quake strongly. Only minor damage was reported, according to Abdul Muhari, spokesman for Indonesia's National Authority for Disaster Management.
A tsunami with a wave height up to 0.75 metres was detected in some regions in North Sulawesi, where people started moving to safer areas, including residents of the remote Sangihe Islands, which are among the closest to the Philippines.
The Philippines and Indonesia experience hundreds of earthquakes each year and sit on tectonically complex parts of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active belt stretching from South America to the Russian Far East.
The latest earthquake comes eight months after the Philippines suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, when a shallow magnitude-6.9 quake hit off the island of Cebu, killing 79 people.
Two powerful earthquakes struck Mindanao two weeks later; the strongest had an estimated magnitude of 7.4.
The Philippines and Indonesia experience hundreds of earthquakes each year and sit on tectonically complex parts of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active belt stretching from South America to the Russian Far East.
