A 7.6 magnitude earthquake off the southern Philippines causes tsunami damage and evacuations

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck off a southern Philippine province on Friday morning, sending people out of homes and buildings in panic, knocking out power and prompting officials to order villagers to evacuate from the coasts of neighboring provinces due to the possibility of a tsunami.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said potential damage was being assessed and rescue and relief teams were being prepared and would be deployed when it was safe to do so.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it expected damage and aftershocks from the quake, whose epicenter was in the sea about 62 kilometers (38 miles) southeast of Manai town in Davao Oriental province and resulted from a fault movement at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

“I was driving my car when it suddenly swayed and I saw the power lines swaying violently,” John Saavedra, a disaster mitigation officer for the governor of Generoso town in Davao Oriental, told The Associated Press via mobile phone. “People rushed out of homes and buildings when the ground shook and the electricity went out.”

“We have had earthquakes in the past, but this was the strongest,” Saavedra said, adding that the intense ground shaking caused cracks in many buildings, including schools.

Saavedra said that at least 50 students from a high school in his city were taken to the hospital by ambulance after they fainted or became dizzy due to the earthquake.

Governor Generoso's city is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Manai, where classes at all levels have also been suspended.

Children evacuated from schools in Davao City, which has a population of about 5.4 million people and is the largest city close to the epicenter of the earthquake, about 250 kilometers west of Davao Oriental province.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu said dangerous waves were likely 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the epicenter. She added that waves up to three meters high above normal tide level are possible on some coasts of the Philippines, and smaller waves are possible in Indonesia and Palau.

Civil Defense Office Deputy Director Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV warned that tsunami waves could hit six coastal provinces near Davao Oriental for up to two hours after the quake struck at 9:43 a.m., asking people to immediately move to higher ground or inland away from coastal areas.

“We urge these coastal communities to be alert and evacuate immediately to higher ground until further notice,” Alejandro said in a video news conference.

He called on boat owners in ports and coastal areas… to secure their boats and stay away from the waterfronts.

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said that small tsunami waves were detected in North Sulawesi province with heights ranging from 3.5 to 17 cm (1.3 to 6.7 inches) in the areas of Milungwani, Biu, Isang and Janalu in the Talud Islands areas. He warned people to stay away from beaches and river banks.

The Philippines is still recovering from the September 30 earthquake, which had a magnitude of 6.9 and killed at least 74 people and displaced thousands of people in the central province of Cebu, especially the city of Bogo and outlying towns.

The Philippines is one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, frequently exposed to 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 hit by about 20 hurricanes and storms each year, making disaster response a major task for the government and volunteer groups.

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Associated Press journalist Edna Tarijan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

Jim Gomez, Associated Press

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