justify;”>GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Mindanao region of the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least 35 people, injuring more than 200 others and triggering tsunami warnings across a wide stretch of the Pacific.
The quake hit at approximately 7:37 a.m. local time on Monday, June 9, 2025, at a depth of about 35 kilometres, according to the United States Geological Survey, which described the tremors as “notable.”
Buildings crumbled under the impact of the earthquake and schoolchildren scrambled for cover on the first day of the academic year.
The epicentre was located off the coast near General Santos City in Sarangani province, at the southernmost tip of Mindanao island, the country’s seismology agency said.
Thirteen of the dead were killed in a landslide triggered by the quake in Sarangani province, disaster authorities said.
As many as 138 aftershocks followed the initial tremor, and authorities warned that more were expected near the epicentre.
Scenes of Panic and Destruction
Photographs from General Santos City, home to roughly 720,000 people, showed convenience stores reduced to rubble and slabs of concrete heaped upon one another.
Police were pictured gathering in front of a collapsed fast food restaurant in the city.
The quake struck as schools across the Philippines were beginning the new academic year, placing thousands of children in immediate danger.
Social media footage showed elementary schoolchildren in Davao Occidental crouching on the ground as it swayed violently beneath them.
At a high school in Davao Del Sur, the campus roof collapsed while pupils were assembled on the sports field outside; no injuries were reported in either incident.
In Davao City, a regional emergency official, Ednar Dayanghuyang, told the Associated Press that more than 100 students attending morning flag-raising ceremonies sustained bruises, while others fainted from panic.
Benjie Ancheta, the police chief of Alabel town in Sarangani, said the police building sustained cracks during the quake, which also struck while officers were holding their own flag ceremony.
“This is the strongest earthquake we’ve experienced,” Ancheta told Reuters.
Matanao National High School, which had previously been damaged by a series of earthquakes in 2019, collapsed entirely.
Tsunami Warning Issued
The earthquake set off tsunami warnings across the broader region.
Smaller waves were recorded in Indonesia, Palau and southern Japan, according to the Associated Press, though no tsunami threat was detected in Hawaii, the National Weather Service said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said the primary threat had passed roughly five hours after the quake, though it urged residents to remain alert as sea levels could continue to fluctuate.
Tremors were also felt in the Sangihe Islands regency of North Sulawesi province in Indonesia.
Presidential Response
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directed government agencies to begin evacuations and rescue operations immediately.
In a statement, he urged residents in affected areas to heed the tsunami warning without delay.
“To our kababayans in the affected provinces, please heed the tsunami warning. Move to higher ground now. Do not wait. Your life is more important than anything left behind,” he said.
The Philippines sits within the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.
Last year, the deadliest earthquake to strike the Philippines in more than a decade killed at least 74 people on the central island of Cebu.
