Tsunami warning as powerful earthquake hits South Philippines
A powerful earthquake has struck off a southern province in the Philippines and prompted a local tsunami warning, an official said.
Renato Solidum, of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said the pre-dawn quake, with a magnitude of 7.2, was centred at sea off Sarangani province and struck relatively deep below the seabed.
The quake roused people from sleep, but there were no reports of casualties.
Mr Solidum said coastal towns were warned of possible small tsunami waves of less than a metre (3ft), which did not require villagers to evacuate.
The Philippines sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where earthquakes and volcanoes are common. A magnitude-7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.
