Authorities said a minimum of two people were killed and several others injured in the earthquake. According to the USGS, it was followed by five major aftershocks with magnitudes exceeding 6.0 that continued into Sunday.
Hinatuan Police Staff Sergeant Joseph Lambo said the earthquake on Sunday evening caused people to rush out of their homes again.
“They panicked remembering the previous night’s earthquake,” Lambo said.
He added that police were checking for further damage and casualties.
Saturday’s quake triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific region and compelled residents of eastern Mindanao to flee buildings, evacuate hospitals and seek higher ground.
There were no reports of major damage to buildings or infrastructure to date on Sunday.
A 30-year-old man died in the town of Bislig in Surigao del Sur province when a wall in his home collapsed on him, local disaster service Pacifica Pedraverde said.
Some roads in the town were cracked in the course of the earthquake and aftershocks, but vehicles were still capable of driving on them.
The country’s disaster agency said a pregnant woman died in Tagum city, Davao del Norte province, without providing details.
Two people suffered minor injuries from falling debris in the town of Tandag, about 100 km north of Bislig, an official said.
The country’s disaster agency reported 4 people injured, nevertheless, it was unclear whether the 2 people in Tandag were among those injured.
The Philippine Seismology Institute initially warned of a “devastating tsunami” after the primary quake, which was expected to trigger “life-threatening” waves.
At 3:23 a.m. local time, it issued a bulletin saying that the highest waves generated on Mawes Island were 64 cm (25 in).
Small waves were reported as distant as Japan’s eastern Pacific coast, where a tsunami warning was briefly in effect. Palau, an archipelago within the western Pacific about 900 km (560 miles) from Mindanao, reported no impact.
The earthquake occurred nearly two weeks after a 6.7-magnitude quake hit Mindanao, killing at least nine people, shaking buildings and causing a part of a mall’s ceiling to collapse.
Earthquakes are a day-by-day occurrence within the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia to the Pacific basin.
Most of them are too faint to be felt by humans.
