The USGS reported the tremor to occur at a depth of 59 kilometres (37 miles), and about 10 kilometres from Cagwait town in the province of Surigao del Sur.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the quake, Cagwait Fire Officer Arnel Besinga told AFP.

"The duration of the quake was not that long, just around 30 seconds but it was so sudden and so strong. Our pots here in the fire station fell in our kitchen," Besinga said.

Rescue and fire authorities were conducting a joint assessment of the damage.

"We cannot say the extent of the damage at this point, if there are any, because it's already night and it's dark here," Besinga said.

It was not yet clear if the 6.0-magnitude quake in Surigao del Sur was an aftershock of the 6.7- and the 7.4-magnitude tremors that struck off Manay town in Mindanao region a day ago, which killed at least eight people.

The series of quakes came just days after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed 75 people and injured more than 1,200 in Cebu province in central Philippines, according to government data.

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.

An 8.0-magnitude quake off Mindanao island's southwest coast in 1976 unleashed a tsunami that left 8,000 people dead or missing, the Philippines' deadliest natural disaster.