At least 25 injured as 5.8 magnitude earthquake hits Southern Philippines

Twenty-five people were injured and several homes, churches and other buildings damaged on Saturday when an earthquake sent terrified residents of the southern Philippines fleeing their homes before dawn, police said.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck the northeast coast of Mindanao island at 4.42am (2042 GMT Friday) at a depth of 11.8 kilometres, with the Philippine seismology office also recording seven less intense aftershocks.

There was no tsunami warning from the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center immediately after the quake.

Philippine disaster officials said 25 people suffered minor injuries and were treated at a hospital in the town of Madrid.

The tremor caused the ceiling of a church to collapse and it slightly damaged several houses, a government building and a public market, according to disaster officials. Cracks also appeared on a bridge but it remained passable.

The impact was also felt in four neighbouring towns, damaging homes, two Catholic churches, a hotel, a gym, a bridge and a public market, the civil defence office in the region said in a written report.

The Philippines is part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from quake-prone Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

It is also hit by an average of 20 typhoons a year, bringing heavy rains that trigger deadly landslides.

The country’s most recent deadly quake occurred in April when at least 11 people were killed in a 6.3-magnitude temblor that hit a region north of the capital Manila, causing a supermarket to collapse.