Strong quake shakes southern Philippines

A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook the southern Philippines on Saturday, sending frightened residents fleeing from buildings, officials and eyewitnesses said.

The quake struck off the coast of the southern town of Manay at about 3:16 pm (12:46 pm IST) at a depth of 14 kilometres, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a statement.

The institute said it expects the earthquake to have caused some damage but it and the local civil defence office said there were no immediate reports of serious destruction.

"A lot of people ran from their homes because a lot of items were falling inside," Phivolcs science researcher John Deximo told AFP.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. At least two people were killed and scores injured when a 6.5-magnitude quake struck the central Philippines in July, 2017.

The most recent major quake to hit the Philippines was in 2013 when a 7.1-magnitude quake left more than 220 people dead and destroyed historic churches in the central islands.