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A magnitude 7.6 earthquake was recorded off the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, the US Seismological Center USGS reported. The earthquake struck at a depth of about 33 kilometers and the U.S. tsunami warning system issued a warning for Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau and the Philippines.
Evacuation in coastal areas “A destructive tsunami with waves of life-threatening height is expected,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said on X after the magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit the island of Mindanao.
Residents of Surigao Del Sur and Davao provinces on Mindanao’s eastern coast were asked to evacuate coastal areas immediately. Owners of boats in ports, estuaries or shallow coastal waters of the above-mentioned provinces “are obliged to secure their boats and move away from the coast”. However, boats that were already at sea during this period must “remain offshore until further notice”.
Alarm in Japan The Philippines’ Phivolcs Institute also said tsunami waves triggered by the 7.7 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Mindanao could hit the country’s coasts for hours. The Japan Times reports on this, highlighting that waves as high as 3 meters above sea level could occur on some Philippine coasts, according to the US tsunami warning system. The tsunami could also reach Japan, as the Meteorological Agency (JMA) issues a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast from Okinawa to Chiba Prefecture, predicting that “waves up to 1 meter high could reach Miyakojima and the Yaeyama Islands.” Even in Japan, the population has been warned to stay away from coasts or river mouths. Rogue waves could hit southern Philippines as well as parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia.