A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the southern coast of the Philippines, triggering tsunami warnings from Philippine and Indonesian authorities.
Residents of coastal towns in the central and southern Philippines were urged to evacuate as authorities warned that waves were up to one meter above the normal tide level.
At least one person was killed in Friday morning’s earthquake, which also led to power cuts and the suspension of classes in parts of the country.
The latest tremor comes just over a week after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippines province of Cebu, killing 74 people and injuring hundreds.
Images broadcast to local media showed overhead network cables swinging as vehicles stopped as the 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck.
Reporters watched a frenzy outside a hospital in Davao City, near the quake’s epicenter, as patients were treated in the open air in a parking lot and crowds thronged the corridors.
A local governor described scenes of panic as tremors shook his province.
“Some buildings were reportedly damaged,” Edwin Jubahib, governor of Davao Oriental province, told Philippine broadcaster DZMM. “It was very strong.”
Richie Diuyen, who works at the local disaster management agency in Manay town, said some students fainted after the quake and it made him dizzy.
“I’m still scared and shaken. We couldn’t believe how bad the earthquake was. It was the first time I experienced that,” Ms Diuyen told the BBC.
The Philippines, located on the geologically unstable “Ring of Fire,” is reeling from a series of devastating natural disasters.
“Filipinos are now tired of disasters caused by typhoons, minor volcanic eruptions and earthquakes,” Dr. Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Volcanoes Agency Phivolcs, said in a press conference on Friday.
Dr. Bacolcol called on Filipinos to “accept our reality” that “from time to time, we will be shaken by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.”
“Instead of panicking, we need to prepare,” he said.
The Cebu earthquake on October 4 was one of the strongest and deadliest the country has seen in recent years, displacing some 80,000 people across the province.
Last month, a super typhoon hit the north of the country, killing 11 people.
Philippine authorities had warned of “destructive” and “life-threatening” tsunami waves after Friday’s quake, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said about an hour later that the threat had passed.
Still, aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 2.6 to 4.9 continued to shake the southern Mindanao region hours after the initial quake, Phivolcs reported.
In neighboring Indonesia, “minor tsunamis” were detected, with the highest reaching 17 cm in the Talaud Islands, north Sulawesi.
Students from the Talaud Islands, an archipelago close to the Philippine border, have been sent home, but the situation remains calm, a local official told the BBC.
Indonesians urged people to “stay calm” and stay away from buildings damaged by the earthquake.
With reporting by Arie Firdaus from Jakarta and Osmond Chia from Singapore
