LEBAK PORTAL – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least one person, collapsing buildings and triggering tsunami warnings across the region.
Authorities in the Philippines and Indonesia urged residents in affected coastal areas to immediately move to higher ground, after an offshore earthquake struck about 24 kilometers west of Sarangani province on the island of Mindanao, the United States Geological Survey said.
“As of now, there is one report of death and four injuries. This is only a preliminary report,” Master Sergeant Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police told AFP and was reported PortalLebak.comMonday 8 June 2026.
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“A number of buildings collapsed,” he added.
“Many buildings were affected, but I can’t count them now because we are busy with ongoing rescue work.”
Video posted to Facebook and verified by AFP showed a shopping mall with a Jollibee fast food restaurant reduced to rubble in General Santos City in the province, while a school building that officials said was empty collapsed on another.
“God, it’s really collapsing!… The building is really collapsing!” someone could be heard screaming.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a notice that tsunami waves were possible “in the next three hours” along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.
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A 6.1-magnitude aftershock struck the area about two hours after the first quake, according to the USGS.
Evacuate now
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos suspended school classes in affected areas in Mindanao while asking residents in coastal areas to evacuate immediately.
“Move to higher ground now. Don’t wait,” he said. “Your life is more important than anything left behind.”
The country’s national disaster agency said casualty reports were “still being verified”.
Indonesia’s national disaster management agency, meanwhile, instructed officials in the North Sulawesi capital, Manado, northern Gorontalo province and the Sangihe islands “to immediately direct their residents to evacuate in an orderly manner to higher ground”.
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Japanese authorities separately issued a tsunami warning for most of its Pacific coast, projecting waves of up to one meter (three feet) to hit areas starting at 11:30 local time (0230 GMT).
In Davao City, Mindanao, a local disaster official said only that authorities were monitoring the situation and would post updates on social media.
Earthquakes occur almost daily in the Philippines, which lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan to Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
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Eastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes measuring 7.4 and 6.7 in October that killed at least eight people.
This followed a 6.9 magnitude earthquake a few days earlier that killed 76 people and destroyed or damaged 72,000 buildings in Cebu province in the central Philippines, according to government figures.***
