Overview
- A magnitude 7.8 quake struck offshore near Sarangani and General Santos at about 7:37 a.m. local time on Monday, producing strong shaking across southern Mindanao.
- Tsunami alerts were issued for the Philippines, parts of Indonesia and nearby coasts with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warning waves up to 3 meters and local gauges recording roughly 1 to 1.4 meters in some provinces.
- Initial damage reports include collapsed and cracked buildings, a damaged bridge, power and communications outages and suspended classes while emergency teams carry out search, rescue and damage assessments.
- Casualty figures remain preliminary and vary by outlet, with local police confirming at least one death and some reports from officials and media placing fatalities higher as hospitals and authorities update totals.
- Significant aftershocks were recorded up to magnitude 6.5 and the PTWC said the most acute tsunami threat eased after several hours, but local warnings, sea-level monitoring and recovery operations continue.