Residents in coastal areas advised to evacuate

Coastal areas of the Philippines where tsunami warning is up. Issued by the Office of Civil Defense as of 9:10 p.m. Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Residents living near coastal areas in parts of the Visayas where a 7.6 earthquake was recorded Friday night have been advised to go to higher ground as the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised the tsunami alert level to three.

“We have given the alert level three warning, which means there might be waves as high as one meter in the coastal areas near the epicenter,” Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum said in a televised interview Friday night.

Residents in Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur are “strongly advised to immediately evacuate,” Phivolcs said in an advisory released around 9 p.m.

“What is crucial at this time, because there is a possibility of a tsunami, is for people living near coastal areas, to evacuate to higher areas,” Solidum said.

He said that what was crucial would be the next couple of hours so people should continue to monitor reports.

Solidum also called on the public in the Visayas region to report aftershocks to the authorities.

“Boats at sea are advised to stay in the deeper parts of the open sea until the threat has passed,” the advisory said.

A 7.6 earthquake was recorded off the coast of Samar Friday night, according to the United States Geological Survey.