A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake has struck the southern Philippines, killing at least four people, injuring more than 200 others and setting off a tsunami that sent metre-high waves crashing onto nearby coastlines — forcing thousands to flee to higher ground and prompting tsunami warnings across the region.
The quake struck at 7.37am local time on Monday, centred approximately 13 kilometres southwest of General Santos, a city of more than 700,000 people that serves as a major hub for tuna processing and commerce in the Mindanao region. The earthquake, caused by movement in the Cotabato Trench at a depth of 10 kilometres, was the strongest to hit the Philippines this year.
At least three people were killed and 130 injured in General Santos alone, where several small buildings partially collapsed and a key access bridge sustained dangerous cracks, Rod Sosmeña, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, told the Associated Press. A fourth death was recorded in Davao Oriental province. More than 100 students attending morning flag-raising ceremonies at schools in a nearby region sustained bruises or fainted in panic. The city’s international airport was temporarily shut and 17 domestic flights cancelled.
Sosmeña described the moment the earthquake struck while he was being driven to work. “Our pickup truck suddenly jerked and I thought we had a flat tire. People dashed out of houses into the streets,” he told the AP by telephone. DZRH radio station in Manila reported that a four-storey commercial building housing its provincial branch had partially collapsed, with staffers evacuating to the ground floor. Debris also fell from other buildings, striking tricycle taxis parked below.
Tsunami waves of approximately one metre were measured by land-based watch stations in the Philippine provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, with smaller waves recorded elsewhere. An 83-centimetre tsunami was measured by a gauge off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, and Malaysia’s Meteorological Department issued a tsunami warning for Sabah state in Borneo — just a short boat ride from the southern Philippines. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat had largely passed around five hours after the initial quake but urged coastal communities to remain alert as sea levels could continue to fluctuate.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr issued an urgent public warning. “Please heed the tsunami warning. Move to higher ground now. Do not wait. Your life is more important than anything left behind,” he said, adding that disaster-response agencies were on standby. “The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind.”
Aftershocks of up to 6.5 magnitude were recorded by the US Geological Survey in the hours that followed. The Philippines sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire — an arc of seismic faults surrounding the ocean — making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations, regularly hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and around 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year.
