An offshore magnitude-7.4 earthquake rattled the Davao region and nearby provinces across Mindanao on Friday morning that quickly triggered a tsunami alert, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Based on Phivolcs’ updated report, the tremor struck at 9:43 a.m. with its epicenter located at 43 kilometers southeast of Manay, Davao Oriental. It was 23 kilometers deep, prompting Phivolcs to immediately raise a tsunami Alert Level 1.
Many cities and municipalities have reported strong intensities with Davao City feeling it at Intensity 5 and Bislig City, Surigao del Sur at Intensity 4. Electricity services have already been affected, according to initial ground reports reaching the Manila Standard.
The tsunami warning covers the provinces of Eastern Samar, Dinagat Islands, Davao Oriental, Southern Leyte, Leyte, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur. Residents in the coastal areas were advised to move to higher grounds for safety.
“Based on the local tsunami scenario database, it is expected to experience wave heights of more than one meter above the normal tides and may be higher on enclosed bays and straits,” Phivolcs said in its advisory.
Other areas with reported intensities include parts of Southern Leyte, Misamis Oriental, Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, Cotabato, Sarangani, South Cotabato, Cebu, Eastern Samar, Bukidnon, Davao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, Agusan del Norte, among other provinces.
Phivolcs initially measured the quake at magnitiude-7.6, but later revised it to 7.4 after a third update. The US Geological Survey monitored it magnitude 7.4 at a depth of 58.1 kilometers with a slightly different location at 20 kilometers east of Santiago, Davao Oriental—about 20.5 kilometers from Manay.
Residents have reported intense ground shaking with some experiencing dizziness and fainting. People were seen immediately running out of buildings. Phivolcs said aftershocks and damage to properties are expected from this major seismic event.
A report by Agence France Presse (AFP) said the quake also triggered tsunami warnings in the neighboring states of Indonesia and Palau.
Waves of up to three meters were forecast for threatened areas in the Philippines and up to a meter-high waves in Palau and Indonesia, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, though police officer Dianne Lacorda told AFP the province of Davao Oriental, which includes Manay, expects damage.
“Our tumblers on the table were moving and falling,” she said, adding power and communication lines have been cut and the authorities are currently unable to assess the potential damage in some areas.
‘Shaking was so strong’
Christine Sierte, a teacher in the town of Compostela near Manay, told AFP she was in the middle of an online meeting when the violent shaking started.
“It was very slow at first then it got stronger…. That’s the longest time of my life. We weren’t able to walk out of the building immediately because the shaking was so strong,” she said.
“The ceilings of some offices fell, but luckily no one was injured,” she said, though some of the school’s 1,000-odd students “suffered panic attacks and difficulty in breathing.”
Kath Cortez, a local journalist based in Davao city to the west of Manay, told AFP the ground floor walls of her family’s house were showing small cracks.
“I was surprised by the strength. I had just woken up and was about to take a shower,” she said, adding members of her family ran out of the house.
Around the same time as the Philippine quake, USGS reported a shallow 6.2 magnitude temblor just over 140 kilometers southeast of Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
A 99-kilometer-deep quake struck on Tuesday near the Pacific island nation’s second-largest city of Lae. No major damage was reported.
The latest Philippine quake struck just 11 days after a 6.9-magnitude quake killed 74 people and destroyed or damaged about 72,000 houses in the central island of Cebu.
Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. Originally posted with the headline “Magnitude-7.5 offshore quake rocks Davao region.”
