A strong earthquake of 6.9 magnitude struck off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Saturday (29 Dec 2018). This raised fears of dangerous tsunami waves across the region but after about two hours, the tsunami warning was withdrawn.
The earthquake stuck 193km east of the Philippine city of General Santos, at a depth of 60km, said the US Geological Survey (USGS). No reports of causalities or damage were received.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre initially said “hazardous tsunami waves” were possible within 300 km of the epicentre”, along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia and the Pacific island nation of Palau.
Residents of the southern Philippines said the earthquake lasted about a minute. People rushed out of buildings. There were no major damage to the buildings.
“We’ve alerted the communities for possible tsunami,” Clinton Polancos, an official in the southern district of Governor Generoso, told Reuters. “We’re fine. The earthquake was not destructive.”
Just last week, Indonesia was hit by a tsunami which has claimed at least 400 people due to an erupting volcano which struck the area around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait.
