CATAINGAN, (Philippines): At least one person was killed and dozens injured when a 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook the central Philippines on Tuesday, sending residents fleeing their homes and damaging buildings and roads.

The shallow quake struck southeast of Masbate Island in the Bicol region at 8:03 am (0003 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.

"There are a lot of damaged houses," said Staff Sergeant Antonio Clemente in Cataingan, a town of about 50,000 people on the impoverished island several kilometres west of the epicentre in the Samar Sea.

"It was really strong."

Local radio station reporter Christopher Decamon said he saw emergency workers pull the body of a man from the rubble of a three-storey house on the outskirts of Cataingan. The man's wife escaped unharmed.

The earthquake "was really strong. Our people were broadcasting at the time but they just ran out of the building," Decamon told AFP by telephone. Police confirmed the man's death and said 18 people were also injured in the town. But mayor Felipe Cabatana told CNN Philippines about 48 were hurt, most of them hit by falling shelves and furniture inside their homes.