Tsunami warnings issued after magnitude 7.8 Mindanao quake

A powerful earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday morning, prompting tsunami warnings in the Philippines and Japan and triggering evacuation advice for coastal communities.

The quake hit near Mindanao at around 7.37am local time, with monitoring agencies reporting different magnitudes in the immediate aftermath.

The quake was measured at magnitude 7.8 by the US Geological Survey, although some regional monitoring agencies issued different preliminary estimates shortly after the tremor.

The epicentre was reported off the southern Philippines, near the Mindanao region.

China’s Earthquake Networks Centre said the quake occurred at a depth of 40 kilometres, while GFZ earlier placed the depth at around 10 kilometres. USGS reported a depth of about 35 kilometres.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a tsunami warning after the quake, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said tsunami waves of up to three metres could affect some Philippine coasts.

Philippine authorities advised people in coastal areas of several southern provinces to move immediately to higher ground or away from the shoreline as a precaution.

Initial reports said waves of more than one metre above normal sea level were possible in some areas.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency also issued tsunami alerts for a wide stretch of the country’s Pacific coast, from Ibaraki Prefecture in eastern Japan to Okinawa in the south.

Regional monitoring agencies said smaller tsunami waves could also be possible in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Guam, Papua New Guinea and several western Pacific island territories.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties in the first reports after the earthquake. Authorities were continuing to monitor aftershocks and possible tsunami activity.

The Philippines is among the world’s most disaster-prone countries and frequently experiences strong earthquakes because it lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of intense seismic and volcanic activity around the Pacific Ocean.

USGS , PHIVOLCS tsunami information page ,  Japan Meteorological Agency , Pacific Tsunami Warning Center