The quake hit at a depth of 73.3 kilometres (45 miles), about nine kilometres from the province's coastal town of San Julian.

A local police officer told AFP the earthquake had been "strong and sudden" though there had been no immediate reports of injury.

"Here at the police station, one of the beams where our roof was attached was broken ... I saw some furniture moving," he said, adding he and his fellow officers were now outside for fear of aftershocks.

Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific "ring of fire", an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Eastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes of 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude in October that killed at least eight people.

These followed a magnitude 6.9 quake days earlier that killed 76 people and destroyed or damaged 72,000 houses in Cebu province in central Philippines, according to government figures.