A tsunami warning for the Philippine Islands region was canceled after a magnitude-7.6 earthquake struck offshore the Philippines Friday, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, or PTWC.

The tsunami warning was originally issued for the the Philippines, as well as Belau, Guam, Indonesia, Japan, Northern Marianas, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, and Yap, per the PTWC.

Residents in coastal areas such as the Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur provinces of the Philippines had been advised to head to higher ground at least 10 meters (32.8 feet) above sea level, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported.

"The quake lasted long, and there was panic," Surigao del Norte Gov. Sol Matugas told DZMM radio.

A series of aftershocks hit the area, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. One was measured at magnitude 5.5.

The major offshore quake generated a minor tsunami in the Philippines and killed at least one person, according to authorities.

Tsunami waves were measured between 6 and 18 inches, according to the Philippines' National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The waves did not do any damage, but the earthquake triggered a landslide that killed a 50-year-old man and injured a 5-year-old boy near Cagayan de Oro, the council reported.

"The quake occurred amid a strong rain, so the earth shook loose and there was a landslide," the country's civil defense chief, Benito Ramos, told the Manila Times.

The quake took place in the center of the Marianas Trench, and it was felt on the east side of the Philippines, Aimee Menguilla, a council representative, told CNN.

"The hotel guests were panicking," Ed Serrano, the head of security at a hotel in the city of Davao, told CNN. "Most of them went outside."

Dozens of people in the Philippines have been recently killed in natural disasters, BusinessWeek reported. The country's president, Benigno Aquino III, has thusly been criticized for the way he has handled the troubling circumstances.

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