Magnitude 7.8 quake kills 35 in southern Philippines, triggers tsunami

A magnitude 7.8 offshore quake ripped through southern Philippines communities, collapsing low-rise buildings, sending a 1-meter tsunami toward nearby coasts and leaving at least 35 people dead and more than 200 injured. The shaking struck just as schools were reopening after a two-month summer break, turning a routine morning into a sprawling disaster across Mindanao.

The deadliest damage was tied to a landslide in Sarangani province, where local disaster official Rene Punzalan said 13 villagers died in Glan and four more were killed elsewhere in the province. In General Santos, a regional commercial center and tuna-export hub of more than 700,000 people, officials said at least four people were missing as rescuers searched a supermarket, a warehouse, a grade school and other damaged structures.

At one school, principal Rosavel Cachuela said more than 100 students and a dozen teachers were gathered for a flag ceremony when the ground began to shake at 7:37 a.m. She said the children’s excitement quickly turned to trauma, though most students stayed seated and no one was injured there. Across the region, the quake’s force damaged homes, hospitals, schools and other buildings, while power transmission lines were also hit before restoration work began.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the epicenter was 32 kilometers west of Maasim, Sarangani, at an estimated depth of 33 kilometers, and that the event may have been caused by subduction along the Cotabato Trench. By 11:00 a.m. local time, the agency had recorded 138 aftershocks, ranging from magnitude 1.3 to 6.7, and warned that more could continue for days to weeks. It also reported tsunami waves of about 1 meter along the coasts of Kiamba and Maasim in Sarangani and in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, with smaller-than-1-meter waves in Mati City and Zamboanga City.

PHIVOLCS issued a destructive tsunami warning for Sarangani, Davao Occidental, Tawi-tawi, Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato, then warned of earthquake-induced landslides, rockfalls, liquefaction and possible inundation in low-lying and coastal areas. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered government agencies to act immediately, urged residents to move to higher ground and heed tsunami warnings, and suspended classes in affected parts of Mindanao until further notice. The tsunami alert reached beyond the Philippines, with smaller waves measured in Indonesia, Palau and southern Japan, while the United States, France, Japan and New Zealand offered support as rescue teams pressed into damaged and possibly isolated neighborhoods.