Tsunami warnings issued as 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes southern Philippines

In brief

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake has struck the southern Philippines.

Authorities have confirmed one death as social media video shows collapsed buildings in the region.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the southern Philippines on Monday killed at least one person and collapsed buildings, police said, as the disaster sparked tsunami warnings across the region.

The offshore quake hit at a depth of 35km, about 24km west of Mindanao's Sarangani province, the United States Geological Survey said.

Videos posted to Facebook showed a shopping centre with a fast food restaurant collapsing into rubble in the province's General Santos City, while a building on a local school campus crumpled in another.

"Lord, it has really collapsed! It has really collapsed! The building has really collapsed!" someone can be heard shouting.

Master sergeant Robert Dagon of General Santos City police said that "a number of buildings collapsed", including homes.

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"Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues," he told news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming at least one death and four injuries.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre 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 Guinea.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) urged people in coastal areas to move to safety immediately.

Japanese authorities separately issued a tsunami advisory for swathes of its Pacific coast, projecting waves of up to one metre to hit different regions from 11.30am local time (1.30pm AEST).

Indonesia ordered a tsunami evacuation of northern areas following the quake.

In Mindanao's capital Davao City, a local disaster official said only that authorities were monitoring the situation and would post updates on social media.

Earthquakes are a near-daily 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 basin.

Eastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes of 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude in October that killed at least eight people.

These followed a magnitude 6.9 quake days earlier that killed 76 people and destroyed or damaged 72,000 houses in Cebu province in central Philippines, according to government figures.

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