Sabah quake: No more big one but aftershocks to continue, says geologist

A geologist believes that Sabah will not be hit again with an earthquake the magnitude of Friday's 5.9 on the Richter scale. -- PHOTO: EPA 
A geologist believes that Sabah will not be hit again with an earthquake the magnitude of Friday's 5.9 on the Richter scale. -- PHOTO: EPA 

PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A geologist believes that Sabah will not be hit again with an earthquake the magnitude of Friday's 5.9 on the Richter scale.

"The worse is behind us and the aftershocks in Sabah are expected to die down in the next few days," said University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Professor Felix Tongkul.

He said the aftershocks of not be more than 4.0 magnitude would continue for a few more days.

"The earthquake is along an active fault line which cuts across Ranau and Mount Kinabalu in a north-west-south-east direction and an earthquake occurs roughly every 25 years.

"The last one, a 5.4 magnitude tremor which hit Ranau in 1991, also had aftershocks which slowly died down in a few days," he said when contacted.

Ranau, located near where Friday's epicentre lies, was shaken by a 4.5-magnitude tremor earlier on Saturday.

Dr Tongkul said there have been about 31 aftershocks so far according to the data from the Malaysian Meteorological Department.

"But earthquake data here over the years is poor and we can only work with what we have," he said.

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