A powerful offshore earthquake, preliminarily measured at magnitude 7.6, struck off the southern Philippine province of Davao Oriental on Friday morning, sending shockwaves through communities and sparking widespread panic. Social media has been flooded with videos showing the quake’s immediate impact. In one clip, chaos erupts at Tagum City Davao Hospital, with staff and patients rushing out of the building as tremors shake the structure. Another video shows an office or building interior where files and boxes topple from tables, tubelights sway dangerously, and lights flicker out. Employees are seen ducking under desks, trying to protect themselves from falling debris. On the streets, some residents are forced to get down on their hands and knees to maintain their balance as the ground shakes beneath them, highlighting the intensity of the tremor. Authorities have warned of possible aftershocks and a hazardous tsunami in nearby coastal areas, urging residents to follow evacuation protocols and stay tuned to official updates as the situation develops.The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it was expecting damage and aftershocks from an earthquake centred at sea approximately 62 kilometres (38 miles) southeast of Manay town in Davao Oriental province. The quake was caused by movement along a fault at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles). The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu said hazardous waves were possible within 300 kilometres (186 miles) of the epicentre. It said waves up to 3 metres (10 feet) above normal tides were possible on some Philippine coasts, and smaller waves were possible in Indonesia and Palau. Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV warned that tsunami waves could hit six nearby coastal provinces from Davao Oriental up to two hours after the earthquake struck at 9.43 am He asked people to immediately move to higher ground or further inland away from coastal areas. “We urge these coastal communities to be on alert and immediately evacuate to higher grounds until further notice,” Alejandro said in a video news briefing. “Owners of boats in harbours and those in the coastal areas…should secure their boats and move away from the waterfronts,” he said. The Philippines is still recovering from a Sept. 30 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 also is lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, making disaster response a major task of the govt and volunteer groups.
