Initial tsunami evacuation warning issued after quake strikes in waters off the Mindanao region of the Philippines.
|Updated: 8 minutes ago
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said the tsunami threat from an earthquake off the southern Philippines has now passed.
Small waves were detected on the Indonesian and Philippine coasts on Friday after the earthquake. The Philippines and some regions of Indonesia had issued a tsunami warning, urging coastal communities to evacuate after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck offshore in the southern Philippines
The tsunami centre in Honolulu, Hawaii, said while the threat had passed about two hours after the quake, small sea fluctuations may continue. Damage from the earthquake was still being assessed.
The strong quake struck at a depth of 23 kilometres (14 miles) at 9:43am local time (01:43 GMT) on Friday, according to the US National Tsunami Warning Center.
The centre had initially warned the earthquake could trigger waves of up to 1-3 metres above tide level along the coast of the Philippines, and waves of 0.3 to 1 metres above tide level in parts of Indonesia and Palau.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology “strongly advised” people living in coastal communities in the southern and central Philippines to evacuate to higher ground, as waves of more than 1 metre were expected to hit the area.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr – popularly known as Bongbong Marcos – said that the Philippine government was “assessing the situation on the ground and ensuring that everyone is safe”.
“I have directed the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Office of Civil Defense, the Armed Forces, the Philippine Coast Guard, and all concerned agencies to immediately carry out evacuations in coastal areas, activate emergency communication lines, and coordinate closely with local governments,” Marcos said, according to the Inquirer, a leading media organisation in the Philippines.
Indonesia’s northern Sulawesi and Papua regions had also issued tsunami warnings that waves as high as 50cm (1.6ft) could hit coastal areas, according to Reuters.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the Philippines following the earthquake, but videos shared on social media show damage to infrastructure.
The United States National Tsunami Warning Center said that tsunami waves can persist for many hours after the first wave hits, and the impact will vary depending on the shape and elevation of the local shoreline.
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