At least seven people, including a 6-year-old girl, were killed and dozens of others were injured when a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck near Mindanao in the Philippines on Sunday, confirmed a local official.

Six people were killed after a three-story supermarket building collapsed in Padada town, trapping dozens of people under the debris, Chief Superintendent Samuel Tadeo of the provincial Bureau of Protection said in a radio interview.

The 6-year-old girl was killed when a wall collapsed on her during the powerful quake, Matanao Mayor Vincent Fernandez told a local radio station.

The rescue operation is still underway, while there is little hope of finding anyone alive, said regional disaster official Christopher Tan.

Schools are suspended in the Province of Davao on Monday, Fernandez said.

Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, was at his home in Davao City when the quake occurred, but he and his family were unharmed, his spokesperson said.

The quake, which struck at 2:11 p.m. local time, was measured at magnitude 6.9 by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), with a depth of 3 kilometers, about 5 kilometers northwest of Matanao town in Davao del Sur.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat from the quake, based on available data.

Three quakes above magnitude 6.0 hit roughly the same area of Mindanao in a matter of weeks in October, killing some two dozen people and heavily damaging office buildings, schools and apartments. 

The Philippines suffers regular tremors as part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. 

(With input from agencies)