MANILA — A strong magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook the southern Philippines on Friday (Nov 17), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, causing people to flee buildings and part of a shopping mall ceiling to collapse.

No tsunami threat was issued after the quake struck off Sarangani province on the main southern island of Mindanao at a depth of 78km at 8.14am GMT (4.14pm, Singapore time), the USGS said in a statement.

There were no immediate reports of casualties but the quake was felt across a wide area of the mountainous island.

"I think it was the strongest earthquake I've ever experienced," Ms Keeshia Leyran, 27, told AFP from Davao City, about 200km from the epicentre, where she was attending a conference.

"People around me were panicking and running to go outside. There are hundreds of people here at the event, so I was more scared of a stampede happening to be honest."

A photo shared on Facebook and verified by AFP showed a collapsed ceiling inside a shopping mall in General Santos City, less than 100km from the epicentre.

A video showed terrified shoppers in another mall in the same city hiding under fast-food restaurant tables and screaming as the building shook and pieces of the ceiling fell.

"We were on the second floor so there was nothing we could do but duck under the tables," said Mr Gregorio Narajos, 34, who shot the video.

He had just ordered food when the quake struck.

"Power went out two or three seconds into the quake. It came back after a while," Mr Narajos said. 

"I saw stuff falling from the ceiling. When we got out we saw cracks and debris outside."

About 30 students at a nearby high school were treated for breathing difficulties due to panic following the quake, said Mr Adrian Imbong, an emergency medical services worker in General Santos City.

Sarangani municipality police officer Captain Giecarrjune Villarin said the quake was "really strong".

He and his colleagues fled their building on the island, which is about 30km southeast of where the quake struck.

"We saw people run out of a nearby gym where they had been playing basketball," he said. 

"We have not received any reports of damage or casualties."

NO 'SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE'

Quakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic as well as volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans, but strong and destructive ones come at random with no technology available to predict when and where they will happen.

Ms Raquel Balaba, 58, was with her grandchildren at a primary school in General Santos City when they felt the ground move.

"We were in an open field but the earthquake was so strong that the children got really scared and started crying," Ms Balaba told AFP.

"I got really dizzy so I'm trying to take a rest now. But thank God no one here got hurt."

Some schools in Jose Abad Santos municipality in Davao Occidental province reported cracks in their buildings, said Mr Jason Sioco, a member of the local disaster agency.

But he said there had been no reports of injuries or "substantial damage".

"Power and telephone signals were cut off for a while but electricity is back on," he said. AFP