Manila [Philippines], June 8 (ANI): Soon after a powerful earthquake struck off the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines--Tsunami alerts have been issued across several Asian countries, Al Jazeera reported.

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake, which took place in the early hours of Monday, caused severe destruction in the country, bringing down infrastructure, with the number of casualities yet to be confirmed.

Citing the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), Al Jazeera reported that the initial earthquake was followed by more than an hour of aftershocks.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said on Monday morning that emergency agencies had been activated, including the Office of Civil Defence and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The country's authorities said people in nine provinces - including Sarangani, Davao Occidental, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu - should immediately evacuate to higher ground or further inland, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Evacuation orders were also issued in Indonesia for parts of northern Sulawesi, northern Gorontalo province and the Sangihe Islands, and the residents were urged to move to higher ground.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported that officials in Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia have issued alerts warning of hazardous waves and advising citizens in coastal areas to get to safety.

The US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said earlier that tsunami waves as high as 3 metres (9.8 feet) could hit coastal areas of the Philippines, and waves of up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) were possible in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia.

According to Japan's Meteorological Agency, the first waves were expected to hit the Philippines and parts of Indonesia at about 10am local time, followed by southern Japan and Taiwan at about 11am (local time), and Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands an hour later.

It further reported that the US National Tsunami Warning Center, which had downgraded the quake from an earlier estimate of magnitude 8.2, said that it posed no threat to coastal areas of the US.

A tsunami warning is also in place for Japan's outlying islands, including Okinawa and the country's southern coast.

As per Al Jazeera, officials in the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam cancelled earlier tsunami warnings, but said there was still a risk of strong currents and dangerous beach conditions. (ANI)