7.8 earthquake hits southern Philippines
MANILA: Tsunami warnings were โissued after an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck โoff Mindanao in the southern Philippines on Monday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences said.The quake struck at a depth of 10 โkm (6.2 miles), โ GFZ โ said. The geophysics agencies of the Philippines and neighbouring Indonesia issued tsunami โwarnings. There were no immediate reports of major damage in either โcountry.GFZ had earlier pegged the earthquake at 8.2. The U.S. Tsunami Warning System issued a tsunami threat to โthe earthquake.Phivolcs, the Philippine agency, said the โ quake was magnitude โ7.0 and warned of damage โand tsunami โwaves above one metre (yard), which could continue for โ several hours.Also read | Trump says he would not unfreeze Iran's assets ahead before deal is doneIndonesia's BMKG put the quake at โa 7.7 magnitude.Benjie Ancheta, police chief of โAlabel town in Sarangani in the Philippines, said the police building had some cracks immediately after the quake, which occurred during their flag-raising ceremony.Ancheta said there were no immediate reports of casualties, but some people fainted โfollowing the strong tremor."This is the strongest earthquake we've experienced," Ancheta told Reuters by phone.Also read | Obama casts a long shadow as a hefty Iran bill lands on Trumpโs deskWitnesses โin Indonesia's โnorthern city โ of Manado said the quake felt very strong.The Philippines and Indonesia are tectonically complex parts of the "Pacific Ring of Fire", โa seismically active belt stretching from South America to the Russian Far East.