MANILA, Philippines, June 8 (World Daily Times) — A powerful offshore earthquake struck near Mindanao in the southern Philippines on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings from Philippine and Indonesian monitoring agencies, according to seismic and tsunami authorities.
The German Research Centre for Geosciences, or GFZ, reported the earthquake at magnitude 7.8 and said it occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers. GFZ said its earlier estimate had been magnitude 8.2.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, known as Phivolcs, assessed the same quake at magnitude 7.0 and warned of possible damage and tsunami waves above 1 meter that could continue for several hours. Indonesia’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, BMKG, assessed the quake at magnitude 7.7 and also issued a tsunami warning.
Dr. Teresito C. Bacolcol, director of the Philippine seismology agency, said the first tsunami waves were expected between 7:37 a.m. and 9:37 a.m. local time. “The waves may continue for hours,” Bacolcol said.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System issued a tsunami threat. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said hazardous waves were possible within three hours along some coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.
Authorities had not provided confirmed damage or casualty figures in the initial information available. The current status of the tsunami warnings was not immediately clear from the initial agency reports.
