Hundreds of residents were evacuated to a relief centre after a strong earthquake rocked southern Philippines on Tuesday.

Footage shows the locals staying at a covered court in Nabunturan municipality in Davao de Oro province on March 9. They stayed in red modular tents provided by the local social welfare office while awaiting aid.

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 Office of the Civil Defense Region XI estimated damages to be at 42.3 million PHP.

As of March 9, at least 13,560 people and some 3,000 families were affected by the earthquake, the office said.

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.