philippines earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck beneath southern Mindanao, the US Geological Survey reported, killing at least 32 people and injuring more than 200 others.
The quake registered about 24.7 kilometers west-southwest of the town of Burias at a depth of 35 kilometers, the USGS said, and prompted tsunami warnings from Philippine and Indonesian seismological agencies that were later lifted.
Rescue teams reported collapsed buildings and damaged homes in hard-hit areas including the port city of General Santos, which the source described as a southern hub for tuna exports and commerce with a population over 700,000.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the national government was moving quickly to coordinate disaster response and would not leave Mindanao behind, according to a presidential statement.
Aftershocks, Tsunami Readings and Tectonic Assessment
Aftershocks included several events above magnitude 6, with the largest reaching magnitude 6.5 about an hour after the mainshock, Earthquake Insights reported, and these can pose added risk to already weakened structures.
Tsunami effects were modest but locally damaging, with one village reporting about 1-meter waves and tsunami.gov recording a 0.8 meter wave in Sulawesi and a 0.5 meter reading in Davao, the Earthquake Insights post noted.
The USGS PAGER system estimated that more than one million people experienced intensity VIII shaking, which the agency said makes fatalities likely given expected damage to vulnerable buildings.
Analysts writing for Earthquake Insights linked the event to the region’s complex subduction zone system and said the focal depth and rupture details suggest an intraslab origin related to the eastward-subducting Cotobato Trench rather than a shallow megathrust rupture.
That assessment noted similarities with a magnitude 6.7 event near the same location in 2023 and said this 7.8 quake may rank among the largest intraslab events associated with the trench, while also warning of landsliding and liquefaction risks to steep and low-lying areas respectively.
