Powerful earthquake off southern Philippines kills 5 people, causes damages and tsunami evacuations

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A 7.4-magnitude earthquake Friday morning off the southern Philippines killed at least five people, set off landslides, damaged hospitals and schools and prompted evacuations of coastal areas nearby because of a tsunami warning, which was later lifted.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., facing his latest natural disaster after a recent deadly quake and back-to-back storms, said the potential damage was being assessed and rescue teams and relief operations were being prepared and would be deployed when it was safe to do so.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said that it was expecting damage and aftershocks from the temblor, which was centered at sea about 43 kilometers (27 miles) east of Manay town in Davao Oriental province and was caused by movement in the Philippine Trench at a depth of 23 kilometers (14 miles).

At least five people were killed, including two patients who died of heart attacks at a hospital during the earthquake and a resident who was hit by debris in Mati city in Davao Oriental, Ednar Dayanghirang, regional director of the government's Office of Civil Defense, told The Associated Press by telephone.

Two villagers died and several others were rescued with injuries by army troops and civilian volunteers in a landslide set off by the quake in a remote gold-mining village in Pantukan town in Davao de Oro province near Davao Oriental, Dayanghirang said.

Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said that several buildings sustained cracks in their walls, including an international airport in Davao city, but it remained operational without any flights being canceled, Alejandro said.

“I was driving my car when it suddenly swayed and I saw power lines swaying wildly. People darted out of houses and buildings as the ground shook and electricity came off,” Jun Saavedra, a disaster mitigation officer of Governor Generoso town in Davao Oriental, told The Associated Press by cellphone.

“We've had earthquakes in the past, but this was the strongest,” Saavedra said, adding that the intense ground swaying caused cracks in several buildings, including a high school, where about 50 students were brought to a hospital by ambulance after sustaining bruises, fainting or becoming dizzy because of the quake.

Governor Generoso is a town about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Manay, where school classes in all levels were also suspended.

Children evacuated schools in Davao city, which has about 5.4 million people and is the biggest city near the epicenter, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) west of Davao Oriental province.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu said that small waves were detected on the coasts of the Philippines and Indonesia before the threat passed about two hours after the quake. It said that small sea fluctuations may continue.

A tsunami warning that set off evacuations in six coastal provinces near Davao Oriental was later lifted without any major waves being detected, chief government seismologist Teresito Bacolcol said.

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said that small tsunami waves were detected in North Sulawesi province with heights ranging from 3.5 to 17 centimeters (1.3 to 6.7 inches) in Melonguane, Beo, Essang and Ganalo in Talaud Islands districts.

The Philippines is still recovering from a Sept. 30 earthquake with a 6.9 magnitude that left at least 74 people dead and displaced thousands of people in the central province of Cebu, particularly in Bogo city and outlying towns.

The archipelago also is lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, making disaster response a major task of the government and volunteer groups.

Also Friday, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck Friday off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The U.S. Geological Survey said that it was centered in the Bismarck Sea 414 kilometers (257 miles) northeast of Lae, the South Pacific island nation’s second-most populous city.

Lae police official Mary Jane Huafilong said that no damage was reported.

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Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to this report.