Philippines: A 7.4-magnitude earthquake kills two people and prompts tsunami evacuations

MANILA, Philippines – Two powerful offshore earthquakes struck the same area in the southern Philippines hours apart on Friday, with the first, a 7.4-magnitude quake, killing at least seven people, triggering landslides and prompting the evacuation of nearby coastal areas due to a brief tsunami scare.

The second quake measured 6.8 and also triggered a local tsunami warning from authorities. The head of the Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology, Teresito Bakulcol, said the quake was caused by movement in the same fault line, the Philippine Trench, at a depth of 37 kilometers (23 miles) off the town of Manai in Davao Oriental province.

“The second earthquake is a separate earthquake, which we call a double earthquake,” Bakulkul told the Associated Press. “They both occurred in the same region but have different strengths and foci.”

A person injured during an earthquake is taken to a hospital in Davao City, Philippines, on October 10, 2025. AFP

Bakulkul and other authorities expressed fears that the second overnight quake could weaken or collapse structures already undermined by the first quake.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., facing the latest natural disaster after a recent deadly earthquake and successive storms, 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.

Earthquake toll

Government seismologists said the first quake was centered offshore about 43 kilometers (27 miles) east of the town of Manai, and was caused by movement in the Philippine Trench at a depth of 23 kilometers (14 miles).

Ednar Dayanghirang, regional director of the government's Civil Defense Office, told the AP that at least seven people were killed, including two patients who died of heart attacks in a hospital during the first quake and a resident who was hit by debris in Mati City in Davao Oriental.

People walk near a house that was damaged after an earthquake struck Davao City in the southern Philippines. AP Part of an exterior wall at a mall collapsed during an earthquake, damaging a car in Butuan City on October 10, 2025. AFP via Getty Images A person is carried by his co-worker in Bhutan City on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao after an earthquake struck the area. AFP via Getty Images

Dayanghirang said three villagers died and three villagers were rescued by military forces and civilian volunteers who were injured in a landslide caused by the first earthquake in a remote gold mining village in Bantukan town in Davao de Oro province near Davao Oriental.

Another resident died in the first quake in the coastal city of Davao, disaster management officials said without providing further details. They added that a few hundred residents were injured in the city.

Damage assessment

Civil Defense Office Deputy Director Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said several buildings had cracks in their walls, including the international airport in Davao City, but it remained operational without any flights cancelled.

“I was driving my car when it suddenly swayed and I saw power lines swaying violently,” John Saavedra, a disaster mitigation officer in Governor Generoso’s town in Davao Oriental, told the AP. “People rushed out of homes and buildings when the ground shook and the electricity went out.”

Schools were evacuated

“We have had earthquakes in the past, but this was the strongest,” Saavedra said, adding that intense ground shaking caused cracks in several buildings, including a high school, where about 50 students were taken to hospital by ambulance after suffering bruises, fainting or dizziness due to the first quake.

Students from Golden Cornucopia – Davao de Oro State College gather in groups outside the school after being evacuated from the building during the earthquake. Golden Cornucopia – Davao de Oro State College/AFP via Getty Images People gather outside a mall in Butuan City after an earthquake struck the area. AFP via Getty Images

Governor Generoso's city is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Manai, where school 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.

Tsunami fears

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu said small waves were detected on the coasts of the Philippines and Indonesia before the threat passed, about two hours after the first quake. She said small sea fluctuations may continue.

The tsunami warning, which prompted evacuations in six coastal provinces near Davao Oriental, was later lifted without any large waves being detected, Bakulkol said.

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.

History of earthquakes and storms

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

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.

Also on Friday, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck Friday off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The US Geological Survey said its epicenter was in the Bismarck Sea, 414 kilometers (257 miles) northeast of Lae, the second-largest city in the most populous South Pacific island nation.

No damage was reported, Lae police official Mary Jane Huafelong said.

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