Tsunami alert in Japan after powerful 7.6 mag quake hits Philippines

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BREAKING NEWS Tsunami alert in Japan after powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits the Philippines

  • The island of Mindanao, in the eastern Philippines, was hit by a quake today
  • Are you affected? Get in touch: [email protected] 

A powerful magnitude 7.6 hit the Philippines on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake, hitting the island of Mindanao, struck at a depth of 20 miles at about 10:37 pm local time (1437 GMT) about 13 miles northeast of Hinatuan, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said based on the magnitude and location it expected tsunami waves to hit the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia.

Tsunami waves could hit the Philippines by midnight local time (1600 GMT) and could continue for hours, the Philippine Seismology Agency PHIVOLCS said. 

Japan has also issued a tsunami warning for its Pacific coast, anticipating a 3.2ft (one metre) high wave will hit Japan as early as 1:30 am (1630 GMT), public broadcaster NHK announced.

The quake could reportedly be felt as far away as Davao City, the Philippines’ third largest city and home to 1.6mn people, some 121 miles away.

Teresito Bacolcol of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology Seismology told AP his agency advised residents along the coast of southern Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces to evacuate immediately to higher grounds. 

The USGS gave a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 while the Philippine agency in charge of earthquakes said it measured 6.9.

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