The local seismology office warned of a possible "minor sea-level disturbance" and urged residents of the central islands of Leyte, Cebu and Biliran to "stay away from the beach and not to go to the coast".

The epicentre of the quake was around 11 kilometres (seven miles) east-southeast of Calape, a municipality in Bohol province with a population of around 33,000 people.

The USGS had reported a magnitude reading of 7.0, before revising it down.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said "there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake" and "no action is required".

Quakes 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.

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 might strike.