A strong earthquake has struck offshore in the southern Philippines, triggering a tsunami warning that saw people in coastal areas urged to evacuate.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the quake struck in waters off Manay town in Davao Oriental in the Mindanao region.

It initially warned there was the risk of a “destructive tsunami” on the east coast, with “life-threatening wave heights”, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an update about noon (local time) saying the threat in the Philippines had passed.

Photos shared online showed chaotic scenes outside a medical centre and thousands of students gathered outside schools as classes were suspended.

At least one person was killed, civil defence official Raffy Alejandro said on Facebook.

There were no other reports of casualties from disaster offices in the region contacted by Reuters, but one official in Manay said there were initial reports of damage to homes, buildings and bridges.

Phivolcs revised down the magnitude from an initial reading of 7.6 to 7.4, and put the depth of the quake at 23km.

A tsunami warning was also issued in Indonesia for its northern Sulawesi and Papua regions.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10km offshore. Source: PTV media

The quake was among the strongest in recent years to hit the Philippines, which sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and experiences more than 800 quakes each year.

It struck just two weeks after another earthquake killed more than 70 people and damaged thousands of houses and buildings in a central Philippine province.

The epicentre of that tremor, which was set off by a local fault, was about 17km north-east of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said authorities were assessing the situation on the ground, and search-and-rescue teams would be deployed when it was safe to do so.

“We are working round the clock to ensure that help reaches everyone who needs it,” Marcos said in a statement.

A video of the quake from the Philippine city of Davao posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed office workers holding on to desks, with the creaking noises of structures.

Another showed toppled cabinets and evacuated workers gathering outside.

The governor of the southern Philippine province of Davao Oriental said people panicked when the earthquake struck.

“Some buildings were reported to have been damaged,” Edwin Jubahib told broadcaster DZMM. “It was very strong.”

–with AP