MANILA, Dec. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- A Philippine seismology expert warned on Monday that the Philippine islands are not a safe haven from tsunami and urged the public to be watchful against a possible incoming oceanic devastation similar to that destroyed some coasts of Asia on Sunday.

    The former director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Raymoundo Punongbayan told DZMM that the country could also be hit by the tsunami that killed more than 12,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand because of the presence of trenches near the Philippines.

    "We should be ready and we should tell the people that if they see the sea recedes and exposes the sea floor, then these are definite signs of a tsunami," Punongbayan said, adding that the Philippines had been hit by destructive tsunamis.

    "Historically, the country had been hit by tsunamis, such as the Moro Gulf earthquake in 1976, which killed about 8,000 people. In 1994 Mindoro was also hit by a similar quake," Punongbayan said.     

    "We have many craters (under the sea) that historically created tsunami," he added. He said that several trenches such as the Cotaba to trench and the Manila trench had generated tsunamis in the past.

    Punongbayan said that Palawan can be affected by movements in the Manila-Negros trench. The Manila trench is affected by movements in the coastal areas of La Union, Ilocos province and the Manila Bay, he said.

    He added that in Mindanao any movement in the Cotaba to trench can affect the Surigao current.

    He said that in the powerful earthquake that struck South Asia, the Philippines was saved from the calamity as the island of Sumatra in Indonesia and the peninsulas of Malaysia and Thailand were in the way, absorbing the destructive seismic waves. Enditem