Philippines 7.8-magnitude earthquake leaves casualties, sparks tsunami alert in Pacific region

A 78magnitude earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday killing at least three people collapsing buildings and sparking tsunami warnings across the regionPhilippine authorities urged people in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground after the offshore quake hit south of General Santos a city of about 720000A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake according to the United States Geological Survey with the largest measuring 65 on the Richter scaleVideos posted to social media and verified by AFP showed a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant reduced to rubble General Santos City while a school building that officials said was unoccupied crumpled in anotherLord it has really collapsed The building has really collapsed someone can be heard shouting as the school structure toppledThe Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a notice that tsunami waves were possible within the next three hours along the coasts of the Philippines Indonesia Palau Taiwan and Papua New GuineaPolice Major Roland Catoburan told AFP two people had been crushed to death by a collapsing wall in Alabel a municipality near General Santos CityWe have casualties A wall fell on them he said adding officers were not being allowed to reenter their stations some of which now had cracked wallsMaster Sergeant Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police separately confirmed another reported death and four injuriesMany buildings were affected but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues Dagon saidEvacuate nowPhilippine President Ferdinand Marcos suspended classes in affected areas of Mindanao island on what was to have been the first day of school while calling on residents in coastal areas to evacuate immediatelyMove to higher ground now Do not wait he said Your life is more important than anything left behindIn Kiamba a coastal town near the epicentre about 50000 residents had already done soAs of now 80 percent of the population has moved to higher ground Agripino Dacera the regional disaster chief saidAll the villages along the coast were instructed to proceed to evacuation centresThe airport in General Santos was also closed until further notice officials saidMondays quake triggered evacuation warnings for coastal areas of neighbouring Indonesia and Malaysia with Jakartas meteorological agency subsequently lifting its alertJapanese authorities issued a tsunami advisory for swathes of its Pacific coast projecting waves of up to one metre three feet to hit different regions from 1130 am local time 0230 GMTEarthquakes are a neardaily occurrence in the Philippines which is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basinEastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes of 74 and 67 magnitude in October that killed at least eight peopleThese followed a magnitude 69 quake days earlier that killed 76 people and destroyed or damaged 72000 buildings in Cebu province in central Philippines according to government figuresThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever