An offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake has rocked the southern Philippines, killing at least 35 people, injuring more than 200 others and sending a 3ft tsunami into nearby coasts, officials said.
Several mostly low-rise buildings collapsed or sustained heavy damage in the hard-hit city of General Santos, and tsunami damage was reported in at least one southern coastal village.
Smaller waves were measured in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.
The quake also triggered a landslide in Glan in the province of Sarangani, that killed 13 villagers, Rene Punzalan, a provincial disaster mitigation official, told the DZBB radio network.
Four other villagers died in Sarangani, he said.
The major earthquake was the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, said Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. He warned people to seek advice before returning to damaged buildings and houses, which could collapse due to aftershocks.
The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, said it was co-ordinating with Manila and was ready to support Philippine response efforts. France, Japan and New Zealand also expressed support.
“Our pick-up truck suddenly jerked and I thought we had a flat tyre,” Rod Sosmena, regional director of the Office of Civil Defence, told the Associated Press from the hard-hit port city of General Santos, where he was travelling when the quake struck.
“The shaking was very strong and people dashed out of houses into the streets.”
More than 100 students in uniforms and a dozen teachers had gathered for a flag-raising ceremony in a coconut tree-ringed school compound in the rural town of Malita in the province of Davao Occidental when the ground shook, turning the first day of school after a two-month summer break into chaos.
“Their excitement on the first day of school turned to trauma,” school principal Rosavel Cachuela told AP.
At least four people remained missing in General Santos, a port city of more than 700,000 people and a regional hub for the tuna export industry.
Search and rescue teams worked to find people who may have been trapped in a supermarket, a warehouse, a school, and other small buildings that either collapsed or were severely damaged, officials said.
The quake was centred at sea off Mindanao, the second most populous island in the Philippine archipelago. According to Mr Bacolcol, the quake occurred at a depth of 20 miles, about 20 miles south-west of the town of Maasim in Sarangani.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered the cancellation of classes and directed disaster response agencies to immediately get to work in quake-hit provinces, saying “the national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind”.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said the threat of a tsunami largely passed about five hours after the quake. Philippine officials also lifted a tsunami warning by mid-afternoon.
Aside from the landslide in Sarangani, most of the other deaths were caused by collapsing buildings and falling debris, including in a damaged mosque, in the southern provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental, and on Balut Island, according to disaster mitigation officials.
Waves of 3ft were monitored in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani. A 4.6ft wave hit at one time in the town of Kiamba.
The quake was also felt in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo. Sabah is just a boat ride away from the southern Philippines.
Waves up to 7.8 inches were detected on the remote Japanese island of Chichijima and the central Japanese town of Kushimoto, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The Philippines is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.
The archipelago is also battered by about 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
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