The Philippines earthquake today has killed at least 32 people and injured more than 200.
According to Associated Press, a strong 7.8 magnitude earthquake jolted the southern Philippines off the island of Mindanao on Monday, June 8, triggering a 1-metre (3-foot) tsunami into nearby coasts.
Numerous low-slung buildings collapsed while the others sustained heavy damage after the quake hit at 07:37 am, local time.
As per the officials, almost two dozen people are missing, and 10,000 residents have been preemptively evacuated.
Rene Punzalan, a provincial disaster-mitigation official, and 13 villagers in Glan, Sarangani province, were killed in a landslide triggered by the earthquake, while four others died in Sarangani.
The epicentre was offshore, 32km (20 miles) west of Maasim in Sarangani province on the southern tip of the Philippines’ Mindanao island. The earthquake occurred at an estimated depth of 33km (21 miles).
Following the destructive quake, tsunami alerts were issued in the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan and Australia.
Some of those were cancelled hours later, damage was reported in at least one southern coastal village in the Philippines.
A tsunami with a wave height up to 0.75 metres (2.5 ft) was detected in some regions in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, where people started moving to safer areas. Japan’s meteorological agency issued an advisory and said a tsunami of 0.2 metres (8in) or lower had been observed, Al Jazeera reported.
It is worth noting that it was the strongest quake of the year that came eight months after the Philippines suffered its strongest earthquake in 12 years.
