At least one person was killed when a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Friday, authorities said. The quake struck off Mindanao island at a depth of 60km, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The German agency earlier reported the magnitude at 6.9. Initial reports said at least one person was killed and 18 injured, with buildings damaged in the south of the country. The quake was felt across the island of Mindanao, which is home to about 26 million people, AFP reported. The quake was at a depth of 10km and with its epicentre 26km from Burias at the southern tip of the Philippines, the US Geological Survey said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said Mindanao had been hit by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, but did not issue a tsunami warning. "I think it was the strongest earthquake I've ever experienced," Keeshia Leyran, 27, told AFP from Davao City, about 200km from the epicentre, where she was attending a conference. "People around me were panicking and running to go outside. There are hundreds of people here at the event, so I was more scared of a stampede happening, to be honest." A photo shared on Facebook and verified by AFP showed a collapsed ceiling at a shopping centre in General Santos City, less than 100km from the epicentre. Another video seen by AFP showed shoppers hiding under tables in a mall in General Santos City. "We were on the second floor so there was nothing we could do but duck under the tables," said Gregorio Narajos, 34, who shot the video. "Power went out two or three seconds into the quake. It came back after a while," he said. "I saw stuff falling from the ceiling. When we got out we saw cracks and debris outside." The Philippines experiences regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. Davao, the third-largest city in the Philippines, is on the coast of Mindanao.
