Powerful earthquake in southern Philippines leaves at least 19 dead

Residents warned not to enter damaged homes or other buildings owing to threat of aftershocks after magnitude-7.8 quake

A magnitude-7.8 earthquake shook part of the southern Philippines early on Monday, collapsing buildings and killing at least 19 people.

“Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues,” Robert Dagon, of the General Santos City police, told Agence France-Presse.

A spokesperson for the agency, Junie Castillo, told media that 19 people were feared dead, 134 injured and 12 missing, but these were still being verified.

The office of civil defence warned people to avoid entering damaged homes or other infrastructure owing to the threat of aftershocks.

Video verified by the Guardian shows the collapse of the upper floor of a Jollibee restaurant, a popular fast food chain, as well as the outer concrete walls of a commercial complex giving way in General Santos City, near the epicentre of the quake.

In Davao del Sur, part of a high school collapsed as students gathered outside, a video shared by the local radio network Bombo Radyo showed.

Images of a convenience store in General Santos City showed its entrance destroyed with smashed glass and overturned benches strewn across the street outside.

Power outages were reported and people were urged to go to higher ground. No further information on casualties was immediately available from the office of civil defence.

The epicentre was 8 miles (13km) south-west of General Santos City, Mindanao, with a depth of 6.2 miles, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in its initial report. It struck at 7.37am local time. The US Geological Survey said the magnitude was 7.8 with a depth of 34 miles.

Shortly after the quake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves up to 3 metres (10ft) were possible on some coasts of the Philippines and that waves up to 1 metre were possible on some coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia. In a later update it said the threat had largely passed.

The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, said evacuation centres were ready and operational, as government agencies continued to assess damage and clear routes needed for rescue operations.

Residents felt the earthquake tremors in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi and North Maluku provinces.

The Philippines is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries and is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also hit