The very strong 7.8-magnitude earthquake centered in the sea area south of the Philippine island coast killed at least one person, while at least four others were injured as buildings collapsed in the archipelago, according to the first police report.

“A number of buildings collapsed. Some houses also became debris,” said Robert Dagan, a police officer in General Santos, a large city in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Indonesian authorities have issued an order to the population of coastal areas to hurriedly evacuate their homes in northern Indonesia and head for higher altitude areas because of the risk of a tsunami striking.

The earthquake struck at a depth of about 35 kilometres at 07:37 (local time; 01:37 GMT), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The Pacific Ocean Tsunami Early Warning Center (PTWC) said a tsunami is likely to occur “within the next three hours” and hit the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, and even Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) also issued a tsunami warning along its coastline from the southern island of Okinawa to east of Tokyo. The waves were expected to start reaching the Japanese coast around 11:30 a.m. (local time; 05:30 a.m. GMT) and not exceed 1 metre, according to this source.

6.1 magnitude earthquake

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the marine south of the Philippines early this morning, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, following the initial very strong 7.8 magnitude earthquake that according to initial reports claimed the lives of at least one person, injured others and destroyed buildings in the Asian archipelago and triggered a tsunami warning in the Pacific.

The new earthquake had a focal depth of 67 kilometers and was located in the sea eight kilometers south of Sarangani province on the Asian archipelago’s Mindanao Island, according to USGS data.

Authorities are trying to verify reports of 5 dead

A disaster response official in the Philippines said authorities are in the process of verifying information about at least five deaths in General Santos town in Mindanao Island (south) due to a very strong 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck it earlier.

Agrippino Dashera, head of the city’s disaster response agency, said authorities were still trying to ascertain the extent of the damage in the city and verify how many victims there were.

Meanwhile, the Philippine seismological agency said a tsunami of up to 1.4 meters was recorded on the coast of sectors of the archipelago.