Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake Strikes Southern Philippines, Killing at Least 32

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern Philippines on Monday morning local time, killing at least 32 people, injuring more than 200 and sending a tsunami of about 1 meter (3 feet) into nearby coasts, the Associated Press reported in a story carried by NPR. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the country this year, according to the AP.

The quake struck at 7:37 a.m. local time, centered at sea off Mindanao. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, known as Phivolcs, placed it about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Maasim in Sarangani province at a depth of 33 kilometers, according to the AP; the Philippine Star linked it to movement along the Cotabato Trench. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center’s final message listed the origin time as 2338 UTC on June 7, which is 7:38 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, and gave a preliminary depth of 63 kilometers; 1News in New Zealand noted that agencies commonly report different depths after large quakes. “It’s a major earthquake,” Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol said, warning residents not to return to damaged buildings.

General Santos, a port city of more than 700,000 people and a regional hub for the tuna export industry, was hit hard, the AP said. A few buildings collapsed there, including homes, a shopping center and a school building, the Philippine Star reported. Phivolcs recorded a destructive intensity of 7 in the city, and a widespread power outage affected Sarangani and General Santos. The city’s airport was shut temporarily and 17 domestic flights were canceled, 1News reported. Authorities were checking reports of students trapped in a two-story school that collapsed in General Santos, and the AP said national police reported at least 12 people missing there.

Counts of the dead rose during the day. 1News reported at least 12 killed and 200 injured, with seven deaths in General Santos. The AP’s later update put the toll at 32, including 13 villagers killed when the quake triggered a landslide in the mountain town of Glan in Sarangani province, and said four others died in the province for reasons that were not clear. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. canceled classes in affected areas and ordered disaster agencies to respond, saying, “the national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind.” PBS NewsHour reported that the United States, France and other countries offered support.

The tsunami’s reach was mostly modest. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said its threat had largely passed about five hours after the quake. Its final message recorded maximum observed waves of 0.33 meter at Davao in the Philippines and at Talengen in Indonesia, and smaller waves at Palau and Guam, where the gauge at Pago Bay measured 0.02 meter. The message did not state a threat to Hawaii or the U.S. mainland and directed Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to the center’s messages. The AP said smaller waves reached as far as southern Japan, and that tsunami damage was reported in at least one coastal village, where six stilt shanties were damaged in Zamboanga del Sur. An early 1News report said no tsunami damage or casualties had been reported.

Phivolcs warned of aftershocks, and the AP said public schools, which had reopened nationwide on Monday after the summer vacation, were among the buildings affected, with classes canceled in the hardest-hit areas.