Philippines Issues Tsunami Warning After 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Mindanao (WATCH)

The Philippine seismology office issued a tsunami warning on Friday after a 7.4 magnitude quake struck off the major southern island of Mindanao.

One-metre waves are forecast on the country's Pacific coast over the next two hours it said, and coastal residents in these areas are "strongly advised to immediately evacuate to higher grounds or move farther inland".

7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes

A powerful magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck off the southern Philippines on Friday, triggering warnings of a "destructive tsunami" on the country's Pacific coast within hours. The quake struck about 20 kilometres (12 miles away) from Manay in the Mindanao region at 9:43 am (0143 GMT), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

"Destructive tsunami is expected with life-threatening wave heights" on the archipelago nation's east coast, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported.

Coastal residents in these areas "are strongly advised to immediately evacuate to higher grounds or move farther inland," it added.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

It struck just 11 days after a 6.9-magnitude quake killed 74 people and destroyed or damaged about 72,000 houses in the central island of Cebu.

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