A magnitude 7.8 earthquake centered near General Santos in the southern Philippines struck at 7:37 a.m., killing dozens and causing damage, power outages and triggering tsunami warnings, officials said.
"We advise people to evacuate to higher grounds or go further inland," Teresito Bacolcol, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, warned people living in coastal areas.
It was not clear if people were trapped or injured in the collapse of one small building in General Santos, a tuna-processing city of more than 700,000 people that is also a commercial hub, and DZRH radio reported that the small commercial building housing its provincial branch partly collapsed and staffers dashed to the ground floor without injuries; debris also fell from other buildings, hitting tricycle taxis parked below.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake was centered at sea about 13 kilometers (8 miles) southwest of General Santos and was caused by movement in the Cotabato Trench at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), the institute said. Aftershocks up to magnitude 6.5 followed, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said tsunami waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) were possible on some coasts of the Philippines and that waves up to 1 meter (3 feet) were possible on some coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia; the PTWC said smaller sea changes were possible in Taiwan, Japan, Guam, Papua New Guinea and several island nations and territories, and an advisory for Guam was later lifted.
Malaysia's Meteorological Department issued a tsunami warning for Sabah state on Borneo island, and an 83-centimeter (2.7-feet) tsunami was measured by a gauge off Indonesia's Sulawesi island; residents felt tremors in North Sulawesi and North Maluku provinces, where tsunami waves up to 7 inches were recorded on some coasts.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told people in quake-hit provinces, "Please heed the tsunami warning. Move to higher ground now. Do not wait. Your life is more important than anything left behind." He also said, "The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind," and added that disaster-response agencies were on standby to respond.
It was the largest earthquake to hit the Philippines in more than three decades.