A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, killing at least 35 people, injuring more than 200 and sending tsunami waves of up to 1.4 metres onto nearby coasts. The quake hit at a shallow depth of about 32 km, roughly 32 km southwest of Maasim in Sarangani province, and was followed by more than an hour of aftershocks.
General Santos City, home to over 700,000 people, suffered the worst damage, including a collapsed three-storey building and severe damage to St Elizabeth Hospital, which had to evacuate patients. Many of the deaths were caused by a landslide the quake set off in a southern province.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the cancellation of classes — affecting some 3.2 million students on what was meant to be the first day of school — and directed disaster-response agencies to move into the hardest-hit provinces. Tsunami warnings issued across the region were later lifted, though a tsunami advisory remained for parts of Japan's southern coast.