Manila: People in the Philippines have been told to move immediately to higher ground after a 7.6-magnitude offshore earthquake prompted a tsunami warning across the region.
The country’s Phivolcs seismology agency warned of damage and aftershocks from the strong quake, which struck in waters off Manay town in Davao Oriental in the Mindanao region. It said the quake happened at a depth of 10 kilometres.
Motorists pass a crack in the road along a major highway in Cebu Province caused by an earthquake in the Philippines, on October 1.Credit: AFP
The agency called on people in coastal towns in the central and southern Philippines to immediately evacuate to higher ground or move further inland, saying wave heights of up to more than one metre above normal tides could be expected.
A tsunami warning was also issued in Indonesia for its northern Sulawesi and Papua regions.
But the US Tsunami Warning System issued a tsunami threat that said hazardous tsunami waves of up to three metres were possible for coasts within 300 kilometres of the earthquake’s epicentre.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said waves of one to three metres above tide level were possible in the Philippines, and it also said some coasts in Indonesia and Palau could see waves of up to one metre.
Davao Oriental governor Edwin Jubahib said people panicked when the earthquake struck.
“Some buildings were reported to have been damaged,” Jubahib told broadcaster DZMM. “It was very strong.”
Local authorities in the affected region in the Philippines could not immediately be reached.
