One dead in Philippine earthquake: govt

MANILA: One person in the Philippines was killed when a powerful earthquake struck off the east coast of the country on Friday, the civil defence chief said.

"There's a 60-year-old woman who died and a five-year-old girl who was injured. There was a small landslide," Benito Ramos said on DZMM radio, referring to the incident in Cagayan de Oro city in the southern Philippines.

"The quake occurred amid a strong rain, so the earth shook loose and there was a landslide."

He said no other casualties had been reported.

The US Geological Survey said the 7.6 quake had a depth of 34 kilometres (21 miles) and hit at 8:47 pm (1247 GMT), 139 kilometres east of Sulangan city on Samar island.