Hairdressers and customers fled in panic as an earthquake hit a salon in the Philippines on Thursday morning.

The customers were lying on couches waiting for their turn when the magnitude 4.8 tremor struck the building in General Santos City, South Cotabato province at around 9:35 am on December 28.

CCTV footage shows staff and clients rushing outside as the quake shook the lights and mirrors.

Philippine seismological agency PHIVOLCS said the earthquake hit 17 kilometres northwest of Jose Abad Santos town in Davao Occidental province at a depth of 34 kilometres at 9:35 am local time.

PHIVOLCS added no damage and aftershocks were expected.

The quake rattled the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, which has been rocked by several tremors in recent weeks.

On December 2, a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck off Surigao del Sur province, killing a pregnant woman. While on November 17, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Sarangani province leaving nine dead.

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.