A massive earthquake dramatically impacted the eastern coast of Mindanao, a southern island in the Philippines, on Friday morning. The seismic event tragically resulted in at least two fatalities and initially prompted a widespread tsunami alert.
Measuring a formidable 7.4 in magnitude, the tremor struck at 9:43 a.m. local time, as reported by the U.S. Geological Survey.
In Mati City, Davao Oriental Province, a 64-year-old woman tragically lost her life when a wall collapsed on her, confirmed Ednar Dayanghirang, director of the Office of Civil Defense for the Davao region. While another residential building in Lupon, also in Davao Oriental, suffered a collapse, thankfully no additional casualties were reported there, Dayanghirang noted in a radio interview.
A second casualty was confirmed by Governor Nelson Dayanghirang of Davao Oriental during a television interview, with the death occurring in a collapsed home. Furthermore, a hospital in the municipality of Manay had to be evacuated due to structural damage to its foundation caused by the earthquake.
The epicenter of the quake was located just 20 kilometers off the eastern coast of Davao Oriental Province. Its powerful vibrations were distinctly felt in Davao City, the Philippines’ third-largest metropolitan area, home to over 1.8 million people.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology initially issued a tsunami warning, cautioning that initial waves could strike within two hours and continue for several hours thereafter. Residents in numerous provinces were strongly urged to relocate immediately to higher ground. The alert was subsequently lifted at 1:43 p.m. local time.
Teresito Bacolcol, the institute’s director, later confirmed in an afternoon news briefing that relatively small, ‘nondestructive’ tsunami waves, roughly a foot high, had been observed along Mindanao’s eastern coastline.
In response to the tremor, local governments in Davao and two other Mindanao cities, General Santos and Sultan Kudarat, promptly suspended all government operations and school classes.
Myca Santos, a General Santos resident, recounted how employees and shoppers quickly evacuated the retail center where she works as the earthquake struck. She described the shaking as initially mild, then intensifying and lasting for approximately five minutes.
Ms. Santos vividly described the experience as ‘like being rocked in a cradle,’ adding that her neighborhood showed no immediate visible damage.
Jenny Caña, living in Davao City, shared her harrowing experience, stating that the intense shaking made it nearly impossible for her family to exit their home. Outside, she witnessed cars halted mid-road and power poles swaying dangerously. The earthquake caused cracks in a nearby school’s walls, and several of her friends across Davao City experienced power outages.
The Philippines is situated within the notorious ‘Ring of Fire,’ a vast, horseshoe-shaped belt of highly active seismic and geological regions encircling the Pacific Ocean.
Bacolcol clarified that the tsunami warning was issued because the earthquake originated from activity within the Philippine Trench, an immense 30,000-foot-deep undersea depression running along the country’s southeastern coast.
Indonesia also temporarily issued tsunami warnings for its North Sulawesi and Papua provinces, located directly south of Mindanao, highlighting the regional impact.
Notably, this earthquake’s epicenter was hundreds of miles from Cebu Province, which tragically experienced a 6.9-magnitude quake in late September that claimed dozens of lives.