Displaced families stayed in tents at a relief centre following an earthquake that hit the Philippines on Tuesday.

Footage shows residents resting in a covered court in the municipality of Nabunturan in Davao de Oro province on March 8, some of them sleeping on mats on the floor due to the lack of tents.

Local officials said that as of March 8, at least 274 families and 1,175 individuals had been evacuated.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the magnitude 5.9 quake struck at 2:02 pm on March 7 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.