The death toll from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the southern Philippines has reached at least 32, with more than 100 people injured.
The quake struck off the southern island of Mindanao on Monday (June 8), collapsing buildings and damaging key infrastructure in the city of General Santos.
Tsunami damage was reported in at least one coastal village. Smaller waves were measured in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.
Philippine authorities urged people in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground after the offshore quake hit south of General Santos, a port city of about 720,000.
A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, according to the United States Geological Survey, with the largest measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale.
Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP showed a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant collapsing into rubble in General Santos City, while a building on a local school campus crumpled in another.
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.
It comes eight months after the Philippines suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, when a shallow 6.9 magnitude quake hit off the island of Cebu, killing 79 people. Two powerful quakes struck Mindanao two weeks later, the strongest at a magnitude 7.4.
– Source: Cna
