A massive 7.8-magnitude offshore earthquake has jolted the southern Philippines, leaving at least one person dead, multiple structures destroyed, and triggering urgent tsunami warnings across Southeast Asia and the Pacific region early Monday. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded the tremor hitting just 24 kilometers west of Sarangani province on Mindanao island, prompting immediate emergency responses from national authorities across multiple countries.
Initial casualty reports confirm one fatality and four people injured, though local law enforcement notes that these figures remain preliminary as rescue operations are still ongoing. “As of now, there is one reported death and four injured. This is only an initial report,” Master Sergeant Robert Dagon of General Santos City police told Agence France-Presse. “A number of buildings collapsed,” he added. “Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues.”
Social media videos verified by AFP show widespread structural damage in the hardest-hit areas: a local shopping center housing a popular Jollibee fast-food outlet was completely reduced to rubble, while an unoccupied school building crumpled from the force of the quake in a separate location. Audio captured on one video shows panicked onlookers shouting as structures collapsed around them.
Just two hours after the initial major quake, USGS recorded a strong 6.1-magnitude aftershock in the same affected area, adding to risks for residents and emergency response teams. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an urgent advisory warning that hazardous tsunami waves could reach coastlines of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan, and Papua New Guinea within three hours of the initial tremor.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos swiftly moved to suspend all school classes in affected regions of Mindanao and issued a direct order for coastal residents to evacuate immediately. “Move to higher ground now. Do not wait,” he emphasized in public remarks. “Your life is more important than anything left behind.” The country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council noted that casualty and damage reports were still being consolidated as of Monday afternoon.
Indonesia’s national disaster agency also issued evacuation orders for coastal areas in North Sulawesi’s capital Manado, northern Gorontalo province, and the Sangihe Islands, instructing local officials to guide residents in an orderly evacuation to higher elevation. Separately, Japanese authorities issued a tsunami advisory for large stretches of the country’s Pacific coast, projecting waves of up to one meter could arrive starting at 0230 GMT Monday.
The Philippines sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches across the Pacific basin from Japan through Southeast Asia, meaning strong earthquakes are a frequent occurrence for the archipelago nation. In October 2023, two large quakes measuring 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude struck eastern Mindanao, killing at least eight people. Just months before that, a 6.9-magnitude quake hit Cebu province in the central Philippines, leaving 76 people dead and destroying or damaging more than 72,000 structures, according to official government data.