Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso placed city disaster and engineering agencies on high alert on Monday after a powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Mindanao, triggering structural collapses and regional tsunami warnings.
During a morning directional meeting, Domagoso ordered the immediate inspection of public buildings and critical infrastructure across the capital.
The directive was issued to the Office of the Building Official, the Manila City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, the Manila Department of Social Welfare, the Department of Engineering and Public Works, the Manila Police District, and the Schools Division Office–Manila.
”This is part of the regular preparation of the Manila local government whenever there is a strong earthquake in the country, even if it is far from Metro Manila,” Domagoso said in a statement released by the city’s public information office.
Beyond local precautions, the mayor ordered the mobilization of a response team for potential deployment to General Santos City, a southern commercial hub reporting collapsed buildings and active rescue operations.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the tectonic tremor struck at 7:37 a.m. at a depth of 33 kilometers off the coast of Maasim, Sarangani.
The earthquake forced students to evacuate classrooms on the first day of the school year and prompted tsunami warnings across nine southern provinces.
Emergency response measures intensified across the country. The South Cotabato provincial disaster council raised its operations center to red alert, while the National Office of Civil Defense similarly declared a full red alert to fast-track damage assessments and relief distribution.
Concurrently, the Philippine Red Cross deployed ambulances and volunteers to hard-hit areas in North Cotabato, South Cotabato, and Gingoog City.
The impact of the quake also triggered international advisories. Indonesia’s disaster agency reported minor tsunami waves in North Sulawesi, Malaysia issued a tsunami advisory for the east coast of Sabah, and Japan raised warnings along its southern coast stretching from Ibaraki Prefecture to Okinawa Prefecture.