Customers fled a snooker hall as a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the southern Philippines this afternoon.

Footage shows the locals running outside the Grider Billiard Hall in Tagum city, Davao del Norte province while covering their heads. Shoppers at a nearby mall were also seen evacuating the building.

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 in Davao de Oro province.

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.