By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: The strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake recorded shortly after midnight today differs significantly from the shallow tremors that struck Ranau in 2015.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah Natural Disaster Research Centre Professor Emeritus Dr Felix Tongkul said the quake occurred deep beneath the sea north of Sabah.
"Although the magnitude was high, the earthquake happened very far below the Earth's surface, about 620km deep.
"Because it was so deep, the shaking felt on the ground was generally mild and spread over a wide area. There was no tsunami threat," he told the New Straits Times.
Felix said the incident was not the first deep earthquake recorded in the area.
Similar deep tremors were recorded in August 2019 (magnitude 4.5) and April 2023 (magnitude 5.5), all occurring more than 600km below Sabah.
He explained that such earthquakes are not caused by surface faults in Sabah.
"Instead, they occur deep inside the Earth where a large slab of oceanic crust is slowly being pushed beneath northern Borneo.
"As this slab sinks deeper into the Earth, it bends and adjusts under extreme pressure. Sometimes, the stress becomes too great and a deep earthquake occurs.
"Importantly, deep earthquakes like this are different from shallow earthquakes such as the 2015 Ranau earthquake."
Felix said deep earthquakes typically do not cause serious surface damage because much of the shaking energy dissipates before reaching the ground.
"At this stage, there is no evidence that these deep earthquakes indicate an increased earthquake risk for Sabah," he said.
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