The death toll from a 7.8-magnitude quake in the southern Philippines on Monday has reached at least 15, with more than 200 people injured, disaster agency officials said. Twelve people were killed in the Soccksargen region of Mindanao island, regional civil defence director Rodrigo Sosmena said, adding 129 people had been injured there. Three more fatalities were recorded in Davao Occidental province.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, collapsing buildings and sparking tsunami warnings across the region.Philippine authorities urged people in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground after the offshore quake hit south of General Santos, a city of about 720,000.A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, according to the United States Geological Survey, with the largest measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale.

Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP showed a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant reduced to rubble General Santos City, while a school building that officials said was unoccupied crumpled in another.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a notice that tsunami waves were possible "within the next three hours" along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea. Police Major Roland Catoburan told two people had been crushed to death by a collapsing wall in Alabel, a municipality near General Santos City.

"We have casualties. A wall fell on them," he said, adding officers were not being allowed to re-enter their stations, some of which now had cracked walls. Master Sergeant Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police separately confirmed another reported death and four injuries. "Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues," Dagon said.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)