👁️ December 02, 2023: NDTV > There's A Devil-anomics On The Loose! The two provinces are largely rural and not densely populated, unlike other parts of the #Philippines.

Updated: December 02, 2023 11:31 pm IST

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Japanese broadcaster NHK said tsunami waves of up to 1 metre were expected to reach Japan's southwest coast by 1:30 a.m. Sunday (1630 GMT Saturday).

Phivolcs said it did not expect significant damage from the tremor itself, but warned of aftershocks.

The area has already been hit by more than a dozen aftershocks, the largest measuring at magnitude 6.4, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

Raymark Gentallan, local police chief of the coastal town of Hinatuan near the earthquake's epicentre and which has a population of around 44,000, said power has been knocked out since the quake struck, but disaster response teams had not yet monitored any casualties or damage.

"We're evacuating people away from coastal areas," he told Reuters.

Photographs posted on social media by Hinatuan's local administration showed scores of residents and queues of vehicles moving towards higher ground, with one large shelter occupied by several dozen people.

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