A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Mindanao early Monday, prompting tsunami warnings across parts of the region. Officials urged people near coasts to evacuate to higher ground as power outages and aftershocks were reported.
A jolt strong enough to knock out power rattled parts of the southern Philippines early Monday, and within hours tsunami warnings were sounding along several coastlines.
The earthquake hit at 7:37 a.m., with its epicenter 13 kilometers (8 miles) southwest of General Santos city on the island of Mindanao. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake was at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
People living along the coast were urged to move to higher ground or go further inland as the risk spread beyond the immediate area. “We advise people to evacuate to higher grounds or go further inland,” Teresito Bacolcol, the head of the Philippine institute, warned people living in coastal areas.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said tsunami waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) were possible on some coasts of the Philippines. It also warned waves up to 1 meter (3 feet) were possible on some coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Smaller tsunami waves were possible in Taiwan, Japan, Guam, Papua New Guinea and several island nations and territories in the western Pacific. The PTWC said there was no threat to Hawaii or the American mainland coast.
Even as authorities worked through the warnings, the immediate human impact was already showing up in the most basic way: power outages were reported, and the quake’s shaking was felt in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi and North Maluku provinces.
Aftershocks began to follow. The U.S. Geological Survey said aftershocks up to 6.1 magnitude followed, and it measured the original quake at 55 kilometers (34 miles) deep. The report noted that variations in measurements by different agencies are common in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake.
The Philippines sits in one of the most dangerous seismic zones on Earth. It is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire. ” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year.
As of now, no further information on damage or casualties was immediately available—only the sudden, shared urgency of evacuation instructions and the uneasy waiting that comes with a tsunami warning.
7.8 earthquake Mindanao General Santos tsunami warning Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Philippines earthquake aftershocks Ring of Fire power outages