Manila, 10 Oct

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake Friday morning off the southern Philippines damaged buildings, knocked out power, killed at least five people and prompted evacuations of coastal areas nearby due to a possible tsunami.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the potential damage was being assessed and rescue teams and relief operations were being prepared and would be deployed when it was safe to do so.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it was expecting damage and aftershocks from the earthquake, which was centred at sea about 62 kilometres southeast of Manay town in Davao Oriental province and was caused by movement in the Philippine Trench at a depth of 23 kilometres.

At least five people died after being hit by falling debris in the south, Office of Civil Defence deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said in a news briefing without providing details.

Several buildings sustained cracks in their walls, including an international airport in Davao City, but it remained operational without any flights being cancelled, Alejandro said.

“I was driving my car when it suddenly swayed, and I saw powerlines swaying wildly. People darted out of houses and buildings as the ground shook and electricity came off,” Jun Saavedra, a disaster-mitigation officer of Gov. Generoso town in Davao Oriental, told The Associated Press by cellphone.

“We've had earthquakes in the past, but this was the strongest,” Saavedra said, adding that the intense ground swaying caused cracks in several buildings, including schools.

At least 50 students from a high school in his town were brought to a hospital by ambulance after sustaining bruises, fainting or becoming dizzy due to the earthquake, Saavedra said.

Gov. Generoso is a town about 100 kilometres south of Manay, where classes in all levels were also suspended.

Children evacuated schools in Davao City, which has about 5.4 million people and is the biggest city near the epicentre, about 250 kilometres west of Davao Oriental province.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu said small waves were detected on the coasts of the Philippines and Indonesia before the threat passed about two hours after the quake. It said small sea fluctuations may continue.

Alejandro warned that tsunami waves could hit six nearby coastal provinces from Davao Oriental up to two hours after the earthquake struck at 9.43am. “We urge these coastal communities to be on alert and immediately evacuate to higher ground until further notice,” Alejandro said in a video news briefing.

Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency said small tsunami waves were detected in North Sulawesi province with heights ranging from 3.5 to 17 centimetres in Melonguane, Beo, Essang and Ganalo in the Talaud Islands districts.

The Philippines is still recovering from a 30 September earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 that left at least 74 people dead and displaced thousands of people in the central province of Cebu, particularly Bogo city and outlying towns.

One of the world's most disaster-prone countries, the Philippines is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, making disaster response a major task of the government and volunteer groups.

Also Friday, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The US Geological Survey said it was centred in the Bismarck Sea 414 kilometres northeast of Lae, the South Pacific island nation's second-most populous city.

Lae police official Mary Jane Huafilong said no damage was reported.