A 7. 8-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least four people and injuring over 200, collapsing buildings and sparking tsunami warnings across the region. Philippine authorities urged people in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground after the offshore quake hit south of General Santos, a city of about 720, 000. A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, according to the United States Geological Survey, with the largest measuring 6. 5 on the Richter scale. Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP showed a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant reduced to rubble General Santos City, while a school building that officials said was unoccupied crumpled in another. “Lord, it has really collapsed! .. . The building has really collapsed!” someone can be heard shouting as the school structure toppled. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a notice that tsunami waves were possible “within the next three hours” along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea. Police Major Roland Catoburan told AFP two people had been crushed to death by a collapsing wall in Alabel, a municipality near General Santos City. “We have casualties. A wall fell on them,” he said, adding officers were not being allowed to re-enter their stations, some of which now had cracked walls. Master Sergeant Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police separately confirmed another reported death and four injuries. “Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues,” Dagon said. Another video captures the Jollibee building collapse in General Santos, Philippines following powerful earthquake. No word on casualties. https: //t. co/LJEVl0qTjC pic. twitter. com/DgixNijwoY — AZ Intel (@AZ_Intel_) June 8, 2026 – Evacuate now – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos suspended school classes in affected areas of Mindanao while calling on residents in coastal areas to evacuate immediately. “Move to higher ground now. Do not wait,” he said. “Your life is more important than anything left behind.” The country’s national disaster agency said reports of casualties were “still being verified”. Indonesia’s national disaster 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”. Japanese authorities separately issued a tsunami advisory for swathes of its Pacific coast, projecting waves of up to one metre (three feet) to hit different regions from 11: 30am local time (0230 GMT). NIYANIG SA FLAG RAISING CEREMONYNabulabog ang unang araw ng klase ng mga estudyante ng Mahayahay Elementary School sa Malita, Davao Occidental matapos maramdaman ang 7. 8-magnitude na #lindol. #LindolPH #EarthquakePH(: Courtesy of DepEd Mahayahay Elementary School/Facebook) pic. twitter. com/tRRgHICoip — ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) June 8, 2026 In Mindanao’s Davao City, a local disaster official said only that authorities were monitoring the situation and would post updates on social media. Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. Eastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes of 7. 4 and 6. 7 magnitude in October that killed at least eight people. These followed a magnitude 6. 9 quake days earlier that killed 76 people and destroyed or damaged 72, 000 buildings in Cebu province in central Philippines, according to government figures. More wild footage from today’s massive earthquake in the Philippines. pic. twitter. com/Cdylad2d7W — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 8, 2026 Indonesia lifts tsunami warning Indonesia lifted a tsunami warning on Monday, hours after ordering evacuations of northern areas threatened by tsunami waves following a 7. 8-magnitude quake off the southern Philippines. The tsunami warning “has ended” four and a half hours after being issued, according to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) website. The agency recorded small tsunami waves in at least nine locations in Indonesia, with the highest recorded at 0. 75 metres (2. 4 feet) in Sangihe island. Officials in the highest risk areas — the North Sulawesi capital, Manado, northern Gorontalo province and the Sangihe island — “are instructed to immediately direct their residents to evacuate in an orderly manner to higher ground,” the national disaster agency had said in an earlier statement. The jolt was felt weakly in affected areas for two to three seconds, it said. Indonesia and neighbouring countries experience frequent earthquakes due to their location in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” — an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. A 9. 1-magnitude quake struck the westernmost Aceh province in 2004, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170, 000 people in Indonesia. The agency advised residents in areas just beyond the direct danger zone to “stay away from coastal areas and riverbanks” and to halt all activities on waterways. QUAKE. A power transformer at the corner of Rizal and Bolton streets in Davao City sways due to a strong earthquake on Monday (June 8, 2026). The tremor prompted employees and customers to immediately evacuate nearby establishments. Workers from several food chain restaurants. .. pic. twitter. com/bSoHYUms7w — Philippine News Agency (@pnagovph) June 8, 2026
Buildings collapse as powerful quake kills four in Philippines
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