A powerful and shallow offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 has rocked the Davao Oriental province in the southern Philippines, triggering an urgent tsunami warning and forcing a desperate race to higher ground for coastal communities.
The violent tremor, which struck on Friday morning, has put the entire region on high alert, with authorities warning that hazardous tsunami waves are possible for several hours.
The quake occurred at 9:43 a.m. local time at a shallow depth of just 10 kilometers, approximately 62 kilometers east of the town of Manay, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
While initial reports from international agencies had pegged the magnitude at 7.4, the local authority’s revised figure of 7.6 underscores the immense power of the seismic event.
A Tsunami on the horizon: The imminent threat
Immediately following the quake, the US Tsunami Warning System issued a threat, stating that hazardous tsunami waves were possible for any coast located within 300 kilometers (186 miles) of the earthquake’s epicenter.
This international warning was swiftly followed by a direct and urgent alert from local authorities.
The Philippine seismology chief, Teresito Bacolcol, confirmed his agency was issuing a formal tsunami warning, with waves of up to one meter forecast to hit the country’s Pacific coast within the next two hours.
The institute has warned that the tectonic quake will also trigger a series of powerful aftershocks.
‘Immediately evacuate’: A desperate scramble for safety
The message to residents in the path of the potential waves was stark and unambiguous.
The seismology office urged people in coastal areas of the affected zone “to immediately evacuate to higher grounds or move farther inland.”
As of this report, there have been no immediate confirmed accounts of damage or casualties, but the situation remains fluid and deeply perilous.
This latest crisis is a violent reminder of the Philippines’ precarious position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a vast arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that makes the nation one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
As the clock ticks down and the first waves approach, a region forged in fire now waits, and hopes, on the edge of the sea.
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