Strong earthquake that sparked tsunami warning leaves 1 dead amid widespread panic in Philippines

The Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

A powerful earthquake that shook the southern Philippines killed at least one villager and injured several others as thousands scrambled out of their homes in panic and jammed roads to higher grounds after a tsunami warning was issued, officials said Sunday.

The US Geological Survey reported that the quake Saturday night had a magnitude of 7.6 and struck at a depth of 32 km (20 miles). The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said it expected tsunami waves to hit the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia, but later dropped its tsunami warning.

In Japan, authorities issued evacuation orders late Saturday in various parts of the Okinawa prefecture, including for the entire coastal area, affecting thousands of people.

A pregnant woman died after she, her husband and daughter were hit by a 15-feet (4.5-metre) concrete wall that collapsed in their neighbourhood as the ground shook and prompted them to flee from their house in Tagum city in Davao del Norte province, the city's disaster-mitigation chief, Shieldon Isidoro, told The Associated Press.

Her husband and daughter were injured. Two other children and their parents jumped from a second-floor window in panic as their house swayed but were not injured after landing on a grassy lot, said Isidoro, who was at his home when the ground started to shake.

"Initially the swaying was weak. Then it quickly became stronger and I could hardly stand. My perfume bottles fell off a table, pictures on my wall swung and I heard people screaming outside: 'Get out, get out, earthquake, earthquake!'” Isidoro said.

While he feared the roof of his house would collapse on him, Isidoro said he was more worried that there could be many casualties in Tagum, a city of about 300,000 people, where he had led regular earthquake drills that he thought helped prevent more deaths and injuries.