At least 15 people were feared dead Monday when a powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, prompting tsunami warnings in several countries.
The quake came early in the morning as schools were reopening in the Philippines after a long break, with the tremors felt strongly in a dozen provinces and 420 kilometers (261 miles) away in the city of Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Tsunami alerts were issued in the southern Philippines, northern Indonesia and the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island after the quake, with an epicenter located about 20 kilometers off Mindanao's Sarangani province.
Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verify initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered an immediate disaster response in Mindanao, an island the size of South Korea, with agencies directed to prepare relief supplies and evacuation centres and be ready for possible rescue operations.
"The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind," he said in a statement. It comes eight months after the Philippines suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, when a shallow 6.9 magnitude quake hit off the island of Cebu, killing 79 people. Two powerful quakes struck Mindanao two weeks later, the strongest at a magnitude 7.4.
The Philippines and Indonesia experience hundreds of quakes each year and sit on tectonically complex parts of the "Pacific Ring of Fire," a seismically active belt stretching from South America to the Russian Far East.
The country's seismology agency said at least nine strong aftershocks were felt across Mindanao on Monday morning, the highest at a magnitude 6.7.
The full extent of the damage was not yet clear and authorities said assessments were underway.
Video shared by the local government in General Santos, a city of about 700,000 people, showed the collapse of a building housing a fast food restaurant, with panicked onlookers fleeing as a cloud of dust spread quickly through the air.
One General Santos hospital was evacuated due to concerns about cracks on higher floors, while one of the buildings at the city's Notre Dame of Dadiangas University collapsed, but no one was inside.
"I had to duck and shelter myself under the table. And it was very long and strong," the university's President Manuel de Leon told broadcaster DZMM.
Images from authorities in Sarangani province showed damaged shop fronts with collapsed signs, smashed windows and piles of rocks from crumbled concrete.
Military deployed
The Philippine military said its disaster response units had been deployed to affected areas.
A video shared by a local school the moment the quake struck showed a large group of children sitting on the floor swaying rapidly from side to side, some hugging teachers, before fleeing en masse as a makeshift shelter collapsed behind them.
Benjie Ancheta, police chief of Sarangani's Alabel town, said the quake occurred during a police flag-raising ceremony, causing some people to faint.
"This is the strongest earthquake we've experienced," Ancheta said by phone.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government was ready to assist the Philippines.
"I pray for the safety and wellbeing of all those affected, wishing them strength and courage in the difficult days ahead," Anwar posted on X.
Inodenisan islanders move to higher ground
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System said multiple countries could be affected and Australia initially warned of potential tsunami waves on its northern coasts.
Witnesses in Indonesia's Manado said they felt the quake strongly. Only minor damage was reported, according to Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency.
A tsunami with a wave height up to 0.75 meters was detected in some regions in North Sulawesi, where people started moving to safer areas, including residents of the remote Sangihe Islands, among the closest to the Philippines.
"They are now evacuating to the higher ground ... away from the coast, to avoid the potential tsunami," resident Jufry Dalita said, according to state news agency Antara.