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2015 Sabah earthquake
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2015 Sabah earthquake
The 2015 Sabah earthquake (Malay: Gempa Bumi Sabah 2015) struck Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia with a moment magnitude of 6.0 on 5 June, which lasted for 30 seconds. The earthquake was the strongest to affect Malaysia since the 1976 Sabah earthquake.
Tremors were also felt in Tambunan, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu, Inanam, Kota Belud, Kota Marudu, Kudat, Likas, Penampang, Putatan, Kinarut, Papar, Beaufort, Keningau, Beluran, Sandakan, Kunak, Tawau in Sabah and as far afield as Federal Territory of Labuan, Lawas, Limbang and Miri in Sarawak as well as Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei.
Eighteen fatalities were reported, all occurring on Mount Kinabalu, including ten Singaporeans, six Malaysians, and two from both China and Japan. About 137 climbers were stranded on the mountain but were subsequently rescued.
As a result of the earthquake, most areas in the Kinabalu Park have been closed temporarily until the situation is cleared and undergoing repairs and rehabilitation.
Sabah lies within the Sunda plate away from any plate boundaries. It was the location of a convergent plate boundary until some time during the Early Miocene. Since then Sabah has been massively uplifted, with the Kinabalu Granite, which was emplaced during the early Late Miocene (between 7.8 and 7.2 million years ago), being exhumed at a rate of 7 mm per year during Late Miocene–Early Pliocene (~ 8–3 Ma ago). the region continues to rise at a long term rate of about 0.5 mm each year. The uplift is thought to be a result of either break-off of the subducted slab or delamination of the lithosphere. Despite not being at a plate boundary, GPS measurements show that the coastal part of Sabah is moving towards the north-west. The uplift is thought to be driving gravitational collapse with sliding of the northwestern part of Sabah being accommodated by extension. This is consistent with the focal mechanism of earlier earthquakes in the onshore area.
The earthquake occurred on 5 June 2015 at MST (23:15:43 UTC) at a depth of approximately 18.1 km (11.2 mi), with its epicentre approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) north of Ranau and lasting for thirty seconds. The earthquake was initially reported as 6.0 Mw by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) while the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) reported the earthquake's magnitude to be 5.9 Ms.
The earthquake was caused by movement on a SW-NE trending normal fault. As the epicentre of the earthquake was near to Mount Kinabalu, the shaking caused massive landslides around the mountain.
According to the claims of local natives, the earthquake was caused by aki (the mountain protectors) who were angered over the acts of ten western tourists (comprising six men and four women from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) who "stripped and urinated at the mountain (which is believed by local natives as a sacred place) on 30 May", six days before the earthquake happened. The tourists also shouted vulgarities when they were told to desist by their mountain guide. The acts provoked outrage among Sabahan natives who wanted the alleged offenders charged in native court and forced to pay the sogit, a type of compensation, given in the form of money or livestock, to appease the aggrieved party according to local Kadazan-Dusun native customs. However, the detained tourists were released from prison and escaped native court, and so the local villagers performed their own rituals. The misconduct was condemned by the Science Adviser to the Malaysian Prime Minister who said:
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2015 Sabah earthquake
The 2015 Sabah earthquake (Malay: Gempa Bumi Sabah 2015) struck Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia with a moment magnitude of 6.0 on 5 June, which lasted for 30 seconds. The earthquake was the strongest to affect Malaysia since the 1976 Sabah earthquake.
Tremors were also felt in Tambunan, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu, Inanam, Kota Belud, Kota Marudu, Kudat, Likas, Penampang, Putatan, Kinarut, Papar, Beaufort, Keningau, Beluran, Sandakan, Kunak, Tawau in Sabah and as far afield as Federal Territory of Labuan, Lawas, Limbang and Miri in Sarawak as well as Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei.
Eighteen fatalities were reported, all occurring on Mount Kinabalu, including ten Singaporeans, six Malaysians, and two from both China and Japan. About 137 climbers were stranded on the mountain but were subsequently rescued.
As a result of the earthquake, most areas in the Kinabalu Park have been closed temporarily until the situation is cleared and undergoing repairs and rehabilitation.
Sabah lies within the Sunda plate away from any plate boundaries. It was the location of a convergent plate boundary until some time during the Early Miocene. Since then Sabah has been massively uplifted, with the Kinabalu Granite, which was emplaced during the early Late Miocene (between 7.8 and 7.2 million years ago), being exhumed at a rate of 7 mm per year during Late Miocene–Early Pliocene (~ 8–3 Ma ago). the region continues to rise at a long term rate of about 0.5 mm each year. The uplift is thought to be a result of either break-off of the subducted slab or delamination of the lithosphere. Despite not being at a plate boundary, GPS measurements show that the coastal part of Sabah is moving towards the north-west. The uplift is thought to be driving gravitational collapse with sliding of the northwestern part of Sabah being accommodated by extension. This is consistent with the focal mechanism of earlier earthquakes in the onshore area.
The earthquake occurred on 5 June 2015 at MST (23:15:43 UTC) at a depth of approximately 18.1 km (11.2 mi), with its epicentre approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) north of Ranau and lasting for thirty seconds. The earthquake was initially reported as 6.0 Mw by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) while the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) reported the earthquake's magnitude to be 5.9 Ms.
The earthquake was caused by movement on a SW-NE trending normal fault. As the epicentre of the earthquake was near to Mount Kinabalu, the shaking caused massive landslides around the mountain.
According to the claims of local natives, the earthquake was caused by aki (the mountain protectors) who were angered over the acts of ten western tourists (comprising six men and four women from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) who "stripped and urinated at the mountain (which is believed by local natives as a sacred place) on 30 May", six days before the earthquake happened. The tourists also shouted vulgarities when they were told to desist by their mountain guide. The acts provoked outrage among Sabahan natives who wanted the alleged offenders charged in native court and forced to pay the sogit, a type of compensation, given in the form of money or livestock, to appease the aggrieved party according to local Kadazan-Dusun native customs. However, the detained tourists were released from prison and escaped native court, and so the local villagers performed their own rituals. The misconduct was condemned by the Science Adviser to the Malaysian Prime Minister who said: