PHIVOLCS has warned areas facing the Pacific Ocean, including eight provinces of Mindanao’s east coast, to brace for “minor sea-level disturbance” following a magnitude 8.7 earthquake east of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said coastal areas in the Philippines fronting the Pacific ocean are expected to experience tsunami wave height of less than one meter, with the first waves expected to arrive between 1:20 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. Wednesday. The affected areas in Mindanao are Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao Occidental, Davao del Sur, and Davao de Oro, while in Luzon, the provinces that may be affected are Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Aurora, Quezon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon and Catanduanes, and in the Visayas are Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Southern Leyte. PHIVOLCS advised people to stay away from the beach and not to go to the coast, and warned residents whose houses are located very near the shoreline to move farther inland, and for owners of boats in harbors, estuaries or shallow coastal water to secure their boats and move away from the waterfront.
