Tsunami warning issued after 7.6 magnitude Philippines earthquake

A massive earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 hit Saturday night in the Philippines.

The quake’s epicenter was off the coast of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

The quake struck at 10:37 p.m. at a depth of 20 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Videos and photos on X showed frightening scenes as people appeared to cower in the lobbies of hotels and in restaurants with wobbling tables.

CCTV footage of the interior of a church in Surigao City showed it starting to collapse.

Many fled to evacuation centers.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said initially it expected tsunami waves to hit the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia — but later announced that the tsunami threat was not as severe as originally feared.

“Based on all available data,” the U.S. Tsunami Warning System announced, “the tsunami threat from this earthquake has now passed.”

Teresito Bacolcol, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told The Associated Press that residents along the coast of southern Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces were being advised to evacuate immediately to higher ground or move further inland.

The Philippines frequently has earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it is on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

With Post wires