The China Mail - Major quake off Philippines kills one, triggers tsunami warnings

Authorities in the Philippines and Indonesia urged residents in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground immediately, after the offshore quake hit about 24 kilometres west of Mindanao island's Sarangani province, the United States Geological Survey said.

"As of now, there is one reported death and four injured. This is only an initial report," Master Sergeant Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police told AFP.

"A number of buildings collapsed," he added.

"Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues."

Videos posted to Facebook and verified by AFP showed a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant collapsing into rubble in the province's General Santos City, while a building on a local school campus crumpled in another.

"Lord, it has really collapsed! ... The building has really collapsed!" someone can be heard shouting.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a notice that tsunami waves were possible "within the next three hours" along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.

-- Evacuate now --

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos suspended school classes in affected areas of Mindanao while calling on residents in coastal areas to evacuate immediately.

"Move to higher ground now. Do not wait," he said. "Your life is more important than anything left behind."

Indonesia's national disaster agency, meanwhile, instructed officials in the North Sulawesi capital, Manado, northern Gorontalo province and the Sangihe islands "to immediately direct their residents to evacuate in an orderly manner to higher ground".

Japanese authorities separately issued a tsunami advisory for swathes of its Pacific coast, projecting waves of up to one metre (three feet) to hit different regions from 11:30am local time (0230 GMT).

In Mindanao's Davao City, a local disaster official said only that authorities were monitoring the situation and would post updates on social media.

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.

Eastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes of 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude in October that killed at least eight people.

These followed a magnitude 6.9 quake days earlier that killed 76 people and destroyed or damaged 72,000 buildings in Cebu province in central Philippines, according to government figures.

A.Zhang--ThChM