Two Dead After Powerful Earthquake Strikes Southern Philippines

A powerful earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Mindanao, an island in the southern Philippines, on Friday morning, killing at least one person and triggering a tsunami warning.

The 7.4-magnitude quake shook the earth at 9:43 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A 64-year-old woman died after a wall collapsed on her in Mati City in Davao Oriental Province, said Ednar Dayanghirang, the director of the Office of Civil Defense for the Davao region. A residential building collapsed in the municipality of Lupon, also in Davao Oriental, but no one was killed, Mr. Dayanghirang said in a radio interview.

A second death at a collapsed house was confirmed in Davao Oriental by Nelson Dayanghirang, the province’s governor, in a television interview. A hospital in the municipality of Manay was evacuated because its foundation was damaged by the quake, he said.

The quake struck 20 kilometers east of the coast of Davao Oriental Province. It was felt in nearby Davao City, the Philippines’ third-most-populated metropolitan area, which has more than 1.8 million residents.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement that search, rescue and relief operations would be deployed “as soon as it is safe to do so.”

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a tsunami warning, saying that the first waves could arrive within two hours of the quake and could continue for hours after that. It “strongly advised” residents of several provinces to immediately move inland or to higher ground.

Teresito Bacolcol, the institute’s director, said in a news briefing on Friday afternoon that “nondestructive” tsunami waves about a foot high had been reported along Mindanao’s eastern coast.

The institute had warned of tsunami waves until 11:30 a.m. local time, but Mr. Bacolcol said the warning was extended for another two hours as a matter of protocol. The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat had passed around noon in the Philippines.

The municipal governments of Davao and two other Mindanao cities, General Santos and Sultan Kudarat, suspended work in government offices and classes in all schools.

Myca Santos, a resident of General Santos, said employees and customers had fled the retail center where she works when the quake hit. The tremors were weak at first, then grew stronger and persisted for about five minutes, she said.

“It was like being rocked in a cradle,” Ms. Santos said. She said there was no immediate sign of damage in her neighborhood.

Jenny Caña, a resident of Davao City, said intense shaking had made it difficult for her family to walk out of their home. Once outside, she saw cars stopped in the middle of the road and electrical posts swaying, Ms. Caña said. The quake had left cracks in the walls of a nearby school, and some of her friends in other parts of Davao City had lost electricity, she said.

The Philippines is part of the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped chain of seismologically and geologically active regions that surround the Pacific Ocean.

Mr. Bacolcol, the director of the seismology institute, said in the radio interview that his agency had issued the tsunami warning because the quake was generated by movement in the Philippine trench, a 30,000-foot-deep depression in the sea floor that stretches along the southeastern Philippine coast.

Tsunami warnings were also issued in Indonesia for North Sulawesi and Papua provinces, which lie directly south of Mindanao.

The quake’s epicenter was hundreds of miles from Cebu Province, where a 6.9-magnitude earthquake killed dozens of people in late September.

Muktita Suhartono, Sui-Lee Wee and Aie Balagtas See contributed reporting.