At least 32 people have died after a powerful earthquake struck an island in the Philippines, causing landslides and buildings to collapse into rubble.

Eyewitnesses on Mindanao in the south of the country said people rushed out their houses into the streets for safety as the ground shook, while footage of a school in Digos showed young children screaming as the earthquake causes an outdoor structure to collapse.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake also triggered tsunami waves exceeding a metre that impacted nearby coastlines.More than 200 people were left injured, almost two dozen more are missing and 10,000 residents have been pre-emptively evacuated.

The city of General Santos bore the brunt of the event, experiencing building collapses and significant damage to critical infrastructure. The bustling port city is home to some 700,000 people and a hub for the tuna export industry.

“Our pickup truck suddenly jerked and I thought we had a flat tire,” Rod Sosmeña, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, who was travelling, said. “People dashed out of houses into the streets."

Ednar Dayanghirang, another disaster-response official, said that he could "hardly stand and keep my balance when the ground shook as I was leaving my house" in Davao.

One academic official in the city recalled trying to find cover under a table in a university building. “I had to duck and shelter myself under the table,” the president of Notre Dame of Dadiangas University told Reuters.

Videos circulating on social media, also show a shopping centre with Jollibee fast food restaurant collapsing into rubble.

“Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues,” Sargent Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police said. “A number of buildings collapsed. Some houses also collapsed.”

Initial assessments revealed seven fatalities and around 130 injuries in General Santos, where several small buildings partially collapsed and structures, including a key access bridge, developed dangerous cracks, Mr Sosmeña said.

The rest of the deaths were reported in the southern provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental as well as on Balut Island, largely attributed to falling debris, a damaged mosque, and a landslide.

Authorities were investigating reports of students trapped in a collapsed two-storey school in General Santos, with national police confirming at least seven people missing in the city. The Bureau of Fire also confirmed its involvement in search and rescue operations at a damaged building and warehouse.

Public schools, which had just reopened nationwide after the summer break, saw about 100 students sustain bruises or faint in panic in the southern region. The airport in General Santos was temporarily closed, leading to the cancellation of 17 domestic flights.

Following the tremors, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre alerted people to hazardous waves of up to 3m (10ft) and warned the wavs could hit the Philippines in the “next three hours”.

Tsunami damage was reported in at least one coastal village while smaller waves were observed as far afield as Indonesia, Palau, and southern Japan.

“It’s a major earthquake and we’re expecting damage,: Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said.

The strongest quake to hit the Philippines this year was centred at sea off Mindanao island, about 32km southwest of Maasim town in Sarangani province, at a depth of 33km.

DZRH radio in Manila reported a partial collapse of a commercial building housing its provincial station, though staff escaped unharmed.

Tsunami waves of over a metre were generally recorded in Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces, with a peak of 1.4m observed in Kiamba town, Sarangani. The quake was also felt in Malaysia’s Sabah state.

An 83cm tsunami was measured off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island and 30cm waves in Palau. Even remote Japanese islands detected waves up to 20cm.

The Philippines, situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic faults encircling the ocean, which is highly susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tropical storms.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the federal government would “not leave Mindanao behind”.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre later confirmed the tsunami threat had largely passed about five hours after the initial tremor.