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A powerful offshore earthquake of magnitude 7.5 struck the southern Philippines on Friday morning, immediately triggering widespread panic and the issuance of tsunami warnings across the region. Residents in coastal areas near the epicenter have been urgently instructed to evacuate and move to higher ground or further inland.
The Philippines' seismology agency, Phivolcs, confirmed the event, placing the earthquake's depth at a relatively shallow 20 kilometres (12 miles). This shallow depth increases the risk of both significant damage from the shaking itself and the potential for large tsunami waves.
The threat of a tsunami is being taken extremely seriously by international monitoring bodies. The U.S. Tsunami Warning System issued a threat alert, confirming that hazardous waves were possible for coasts within 300 kilometres (186 miles) of the epicenter.