A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Saturday, monitors said, adding that a tsunami threat was possible for parts of the Philippines and neighbouring Indonesia.
The National Weather Service has issued a potential tsunami threat in Indonesia and the Philippines because of the quake.
The quake struck southeast of Davao City at a depth of 59 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said "hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible" along the coasts of Indonesia and the Philippines.
The focus of the earthquake was located at the depth of 49 kilometres. There have been no immediate reports on casualties or damage caused by the quake.
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Davao city resident Frinston Lim told Xinhua news agency that people in the largest city in Mindanao felt the major tremor strongly. "Workers rushed out of their offices and car horns sounded off as the ground began shaking, lasting about 15 seconds," he said.
Earthquakes with magnitude above 7.0 Richter scale are considered major earthquakes. Such earthquake usually causes damage to most buildings, doing severe damage to many of them. The severe damage is usually limited to 250 kilometres (155.343 miles) from the quake's epicentre. Major earthquakes usually felt across great distances.
(With inputs from agencies)
