A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hit the southern Philippines on Monday, the United States Geological Survey said. The quake's epicentre was reported to be 209 kilometres south east of the town of Mati in Davao Oriental on Mindanao Island.
Mylene Carols of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) told AFP the quake was felt along the east coast of the island but there were no reports of damage or injuries. "The quake's epicentre was out at sea and not on land," she said.
"From our initial reports it was about 10 kilometres below the surface," she said, adding that no tsunami warning has been issued. "There is only a small chance of a tsunami because we use magnitude seven and below as our cut off point," said Philvolcs's Angelito Lunuza. "Although we have not issued a tsunami warning we have asked all our stations along the east coast to monitor any changes in sea levels just in case," he said.