A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines shortly before 7:40 a.m. local time on Monday, killing at least 32 people, injuring more than 100 and sending a small tsunami toward nearby coasts before the threat passed. The U.S. Geological Survey put the epicenter about 32 kilometers south-southwest of Maasim in Sarangani province, at a depth of roughly 33 kilometers, and the national seismology agency PHIVOLCS classified the shaking as "very strong."
Among the dead were 13 villagers killed when the quake triggered a landslide in Sarangani, officials said, while others died in the collapse of buildings across the region. More than a dozen people were reported missing in the immediate aftermath, and rescue crews worked through rubble in the worst-hit areas as a series of aftershocks, some as strong as magnitude 6.5, rattled survivors.
General Santos, a port city of about 722,000 people in the Soccsksargen region, sustained the most serious damage. A three-story building housing a Jollibee restaurant collapsed, St Elizabeth Hospital was badly damaged and evacuated, and parts of Notre Dame of Dadiangas University caved in. The Department of Public Works and Highways estimated initial damage in the city alone at roughly 1 billion pesos.
The quake generated a tsunami of about one meter along nearby shores, and warnings were issued across the region. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat had largely passed within about five hours, and authorities in the Philippines and Indonesia subsequently cancelled their alerts. An advisory remained in place for a time along Japan's southern coast and outlying islands before it, too, was lifted.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. activated the Office of Civil Defence and other emergency agencies and ordered schools closed in affected areas. The timing was acute: Monday was the first day of the school year in the Philippines, with roughly 3.2 million students and 128,000 teachers and personnel in the region expected to return to classrooms.
Mindanao sits near the boundary of the Philippine Sea and Sunda tectonic plates, part of the seismically active Pacific "Ring of Fire," and the country records hundreds of quakes each year. Monday's was among the strongest to hit the southern Philippines in recent years, and officials warned that the casualty toll could rise as assessments reached more remote coastal communities.
Power and communications were disrupted in parts of Sarangani and South Cotabato, complicating early damage surveys. Marcos said the government would move quickly to deliver relief and restore services, and disaster officials urged residents in coastal areas to remain alert to aftershocks even after the tsunami warnings were withdrawn.