7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes southern Philippines; tsunami risk prompts regional alerts

The disaster came eight months after the Philippines suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, when a shallow 6.9 magnitude quake hit off the central island of Cebu, killing 79 people. ​

The quake originated along the Philippine Trench and was not linked to the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck Mindanao on June 8, with the epicentres more than 250km apart.

The tremor registered at a magnitude of 7.8 and prompted a number of now-cancelled tsunami warnings in the region.

A 7.8-magnitude has shaken the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, killing at least 35 people.

An offshore earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least 35 people, injuring more than 200 others mostly in ruined buildings and sending a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami into nearby coasts.

DAVAO, Philippines — An offshore earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least 35 people, injuring more than 200 others mostly in ruined buildings and sending a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami into nearby coasts. Several mostly low-rise buildings collapsed or sustained heavy damages in the hard-hit city of General Santos. Tsunami damage was reported in at least one southern coastal village. Smaller waves were measured in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan. The quake also triggered a landslide in Glan, a municipality in the province of Sarangani, that killed 13 villagers, Rene Punzalan, a provincial disaster-mitigation official, told the DZBB radio network. Four other villagers died in Sarangani, he said. The major earthquake was the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said. He warned people to seek advice before returning to damaged buildings and houses, which could collapse due to aftershocks. The United States, a treaty ally of t