Tsunami warnings after magnitude 7.8 quake strikes off Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern coast of the Philippines on Monday, the United States Geological Survey said, prompting a regional warning centre to issue a tsunami alert.

The offshore quake hit at a depth of 35 kilometres (22 miles) about 24 kilometres west of Mindanao’s Sarangani province, USGS said.

READ: Magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocks southern Mindanao

Videos posted to Facebook showed a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant collapsing into rubble in the province’s General Santos City, while a building on a local school campus crumpled in another.

“Lord, it has really collapsed! It has really collapsed! The building has really collapsed!” someone can be heard shouting.

READ: 9 Mindanao provinces under tsunami warning after M7 earthquake

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a notice that tsunami waves were possible “within the next three hours” along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.

Japanese authorities separately issued a tsunami advisory for swathes of its Pacific coast, projecting waves of up to one metre (three feet) to hit different regions from 11:30am local time (0230 GMT).

READ: Earthquake in numbers: Magnitude vs Intensity 

In Mindanao’s capital Davao City, a local disaster official said only that authorities were monitoring the situation and would post updates on social media.

Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.