A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the southern portions of the Philippines at 9:43 a.m. local time, Friday, 10 October, triggering multiple tsunami warnings.
The earthquake’s epicentre was located around 62 kilometres southeast of the town of Manay in Davao Oriental, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). It was initially logged as a 7.6-magnitude quake.
Philvolcs has issued several tsunami warnings to coastal communities in Eastern Samar, Dinagat Islands, Davao Oriental, Southern Leyte, Leyte, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur, urging immediate evacuation. The agency has estimated that wave heights of more than one metre above normal tides could be observed, especially in enclosed bays and straits.
According to early USGS estimates, there is a 34% chance that economic losses will fall between 1 and 10 million USD, and a 36% chance they will be between 10 and 100 million USD.
This is the second earthquake in the Philippines in October, after a 6.9-magnitude quake in the central region in Cebu province, killing at least 72 people and causing at least Php 31.4m (US$539,600) in infrastructure damage.
