Strong earthquake strikes southern Philippines with tsunami warnings issued

Tsunami alerts ended but people told not to enter damaged buildings for fear of aftershocks from magnitude-7.8 quake

At least 32 people have died after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake shook part of the southern Philippines early on Monday, collapsing buildings and triggering tsunami alerts that were later cancelled.

The quake hit early in the morning about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) off the coast of Sarangani province, with tremors felt strongly across Mindanao and 420 kilometres away in the city of Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Authorities were verifying preliminary reports of 32 people killed and 134 injured across Mindanao, mostly from falling debris and landslides, according to civil defence officials. They told people to avoid entering damaged homes and other infrastructure because of the threat of aftershocks.

Video verified by the Guardian shows the collapse of the upper floor of a Jollibee restaurant, a popular fast food chain, as well as the outer concrete walls of a commercial complex giving way in General Santos City, near the epicentre of the quake.

In Davao del Sur, part of a high school collapsed as students gathered outside, a video shared by the local radio network Bombo Radyo showed.

Images of a convenience store in General Santos City showed its entrance destroyed with smashed glass and overturned benches strewn across the street outside.

Power outages were reported and people were urged to go to higher ground. No further information on casualties was immediately available from the office of civil defence.

The epicentre was 8 miles (13km) south-west of General Santos City with a depth of 6.2 miles, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in its initial report. It struck at 7.37am local time. The US Geological Survey said the magnitude was 7.8 with a depth of 34 miles.

Tsunami warnings were cancelled after more than six hours in the southern Philippines, northern Indonesia and the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, where residents in coastal areas had been told to evacuate immediately to higher ground.

The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, said evacuation centres were ready and operational as government agencies continued to assess the damage and clear the routes needed for rescue operations. “The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind,” he said in a statement.

Residents felt the earthquake tremors in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi and North Maluku provinces.

The Philippines is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries and 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 hit by about 20 typhoons and tropical storms a year.

The earthquake struck as public schools reopened for a new academic year. A video taken at Mahayhay elementary school in Davao showed panicked pupils scrambling for safety during the morning flag ceremony.

The Philippines Red Cross reported attending three high schools to support students traumatised by the quake.

Marcos Jr ordered the suspension of schools in affected areas until further notice. “The safety of our children comes first,” he said.

Carmela Fonbuena contributed to this report. With Associated Press and Agence France-Presse