Terrified students fled from their classrooms as a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Philippines on the afternoon of March 7.

Footage shows screaming pupils running out to the courtyard after the tremors rocked the school in Mawab town in Davao de Oro.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake struck at 2.02 pm at a depth of 10 kilometres. It was centred some eight kilometres southeast of New Bataan municipality.

The agency said damage and aftershocks were expected.

The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands inside the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where the majority of Earth's volcano eruptions and earthquakes happen.

Terrified students fled from their classrooms as a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck southern Philippines on Tuesday afternoon.

Footage shows screaming pupils running out to the courtyard after the tremors rocked the school in Mawab town in Davao de Oro on March 7.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake struck at 2:02 pm at a depth of 10 kilometres. It was centred some eight kilometres southeast of New Bataan municipality.

The agency said damage and aftershocks were expected.

The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands inside the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' where the majority of Earth's volcano eruptions and earthquakes happen.