Four dead in Philippine quake

Three children were among four people killed after a powerful earthquake hit the southern Philippines, authorities said Thursday.

The 6.4-magnitude quake struck the Mindanao region, which makes up the southern third of the Philippines, on Wednesday night.

On Thursday morning, local authorities confirmed four people had been killed but said the death toll was not expected to rise significantly with no casualties reported in Mindanao's major cities.

Two of the children reported killed were in houses that collapsed, while a mother and her five-year-old son died after being buried in a landslide, local authorities told AFP.

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