Strong earthquake shakes southern Philippines | News from the Philippines

No immediate reports of damage and a tsunami warning were issued after a magnitude seven earthquake.

A magnitude seven earthquake struck the southern Philippines, but no immediate damage was reported and no tsunami warning was issued.

The earthquake struck about 310 kilometers (193 miles) southeast of the city of Davao on the main southern island of Mindanao at 8:23 p.m. (12:23 GMT), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Residents of the town of Jose Abad Santos, near the southern tip of the island, lost power for about 15 minutes after the earthquake shook the area, but there was no damage, police chief Captain Glabynarry Murillo told AFP news agency.

“From our perspective at the police station, we saw a lot of residents rushing outside,” Murillo said. “We also rushed outside because the police station is a three-story building.”

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has warned of aftershocks.

“It has been felt intensely because it is a major earthquake, but it is deep so it will not damage the infrastructure because it is considerably far away. [from the island]”Renato Solidum, director of the institute, told DZBB radio.

The earthquake was felt on Sangihe Island in northern Indonesia, but similarly, no injuries or damage were reported.

“Here in Tahuna, the capital of Sangihe, people panicked for a while and fled their homes because the earthquake was long enough and strong,” Rivolius Pudihang, head of the AFP, told AFP news agency. disaster mitigation agency in Sangihe, North Sulawesi.

“But things got back to normal and people went home.”

In recent years, the southern Davao region has been hit by powerful earthquakes triggered by local fault lines.

The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most earthquakes occur in the world.

It is also hit by around 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year, making it one of the most disaster prone countries in the world.

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.