An offshore earthquake of magnitude 7.8 rocked the southern Philippines on Monday, resulting in the tragic loss of at least 32 lives. The powerful quake left more than 200 individuals injured, predominantly due to collapsing structures, and unleashed a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami that reached nearby coastlines.
In the city of General Santos, numerous low-rise buildings either crumbled or suffered significant damage, while a coastal village in the south also reported tsunami-induced destruction. The seismic waves extended their reach, albeit with diminished intensity, to locations such as Indonesia, Palau, and even as far as southern Japan.
Adding to the calamity, the earthquake triggered a landslide in Glan, a municipality within Sarangani province, which claimed the lives of 13 villagers. Rene Punzalan, a provincial disaster mitigation official, relayed this information during an interview with the DZBB radio network. Additionally, four more fatalities were reported in other areas of Sarangani.
This seismic event marks the most intense earthquake to strike the Philippines this year, according to Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Bacolcol cautioned the public about the possibility of aftershocks and urged them to consult experts before re-entering any compromised buildings or homes that might still pose a risk of collapse.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least 32 people and injuring more than 200 others. (AP Images)
The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, said it was coordinating with Manila and was ready to support Philippine response efforts. France and New Zealand also expressed support.
“Our pickup truck suddenly jerked and I thought we had a flat tire,” Rod Sosmeña, a regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, told The Associated Press from General Santos, where he was traveling when the quake struck at 7:37 a.m.
“The shaking was very strong and people dashed out of houses into the streets,” Sosmeña said.
More than 100 students in uniforms and a dozen teachers had gathered for a flag-raising ceremony in a coconut tree-ringed grade school compound in the rural town of Malita in Davao Occidental province when the ground shook, turning the first day of school after a two-month summer break into chaos.
“Their excitement on the first day of school turned to trauma,” school principal Rosavel Cachuela told the AP.
Some of the young students screamed in panic and wept but mostly remained seated and still, preventing any injuries, Cachuela said, adding that a motorcycle was damaged when a shed crumbled to the ground.
At least 12 people remained missing in General Santos, a port city of more than 700,000 people and a regional hub for the tuna export industry. Search and rescue teams scrambled to find people who may have been trapped in a supermarket, a warehouse, a grade school, and other small buildings that either collapsed or were severely damaged, officials said.
Building sustained considerable damage after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck General Santos in the southern Philippines on Monday. (AP Images)
The international airport in General Santos was temporarily shut due to the earthquake and 17 domestic flights were canceled, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said.
The quake was centered at sea off Mindanao, the second most populous island in the Philippine archipelago. According to Bacolcol, the quake occurred at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles), about 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Maasim town in Sarangani province.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the cancellation of classes and directed disaster-response agencies to immediately get to work in quake-hit provinces, saying “the national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind.”
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami largely passed about five hours after the quake. Philippine officials also lifted a tsunami warning by mid-afternoon. Six shanties on stilts were damaged in a coastal village in Zamboanga del Sur province due to the quake and taller waves, officials said.
Aside from the landslide in Sarangani, most of the other deaths were caused by collapsing buildings and falling debris, including in a damaged mosque, in the southern provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental, and on Balut Island, according to Sosmeña and another disaster-mitigation official, Ednar Dayanghirang.
Search and rescue teams looked for missing people in General Santos, Philippines, after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on June 8, 2025. (AP Images)
The DZRH radio network in Manila reported that a four-story commercial building where its provincial station was located partly collapsed and staffers dashed to the ground floor without injuries.
Waves of 1 meter (3 feet) were monitored in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani. A 1.4-meter (4.6-foot) wave hit at one time in Kiamba town, Bacolcol said.
The quake was also felt in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Borneo island. Sabah is just a boat ride away from southern Philippines. An 83-centimeter (2.7-feet) tsunami was measured by a gauge off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, and the PTWC said 30-centimeter (1-foot) waves were measured in Palau.
Waves up to 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) were detected on the remote Japanese island of Chichijima and the central Japanese town of Kushimoto, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
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,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.
The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year.