Terrified pupils hid under desks as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake hit the Philippines on Thursday.

CCTV footage shows the pupils taking cover when the tremor rattled their classroom in Baguio City.

Warning sirens sounded soon after, prompting them to evacuate from the building.

State agency PHIVOLCS reported that the quake's epicentre was located two kilometres northeast of Pugo, La Union, at a depth of 10 kilometres.

The earthquake, tectonic in origin, struck at 10:30 am local time. Initial readings placed the magnitude at 4.8 before it was revised.

No damage or aftershocks have been reported so far.

The country was recently hit by a deadly magnitude 6.9 quake that killed at least 68 people and injured around 559. That tremor caused widespread power outages and flattened buildings in Cebu province, including a government hall and a century-old church.

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