An offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 has struck off a southern Philippine province this morning, prompting officials to order villagers to evacuate from nearby coastal provinces due to a possible tsunami.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it was expecting damage and aftershocks from the earthquake, which was centred at sea about 62 kilometres south-east of Manay town in Davao Oriental province.

It said the quake was caused by movement in a fault at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu said hazardous waves were possible within 300 kilometres of the epicentre.

There was not a wider danger of a tsunami, it said.

It said waves up to three metres above normal tides were possible on some Philippine coasts near the epicentre.

Smaller waves were possible in Indonesia and Palau.

Office of Civil Defence deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV warned that tsunami waves could hit six nearby coastal provinces from Davao Oriental up to two hours after the earthquake struck at 9.43am (12.43pm AEDT).

He asked people to immediately move to higher ground or further inland away from coastal areas.

"We urge these coastal communities to be on alert and immediately evacuate to higher grounds until further notice," Alejandro said in a video news briefing.

"Owners of boats in harbours and those in the coastal areas... should secure their boats and move away from the waterfronts," he said.

The Philippines is still recovering from a September 30 earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 that killed at least 74 people and displaced thousands more in the central province of Cebu, particularly Bogo city and outlying towns.

One of the world's most disaster-prone countries, the Philippines is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, making disaster response a major task of the government and volunteer groups.