54 aftershocks recorded

The shocks in Sabah all measured between 1.6 and 4.5 on the Richter scale.

KUNDASANG: The Meteorological Department recorded 54 aftershocks following the earthquake in Sabah measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in Ranau at 7.15am on Friday.

Sabah Meteorological Department director Abd Malik Tussin said all the aftershocks measured between 1.6 and 4.5 on the Richter scale.

He added that the aftershock measuring 4.5 was recorded at 7.06pm on Friday.

“When an earthquake occurs, there will be aftershocks but we cannot determine how long the aftershocks will last. It could be for a day or week or even months.

“On Friday alone, we observed 30 aftershocks, on Saturday 13 and yesterday 11,” he told Bernama at the operations centre which was set up in Kinabalu Park, here yesterday.

“We did not expect so many aftershocks and we are trying to determine the actual cause of the earthquake.

“Going by the history of earthquakes throughout the world, there is a possibility of a bigger one from the mainshock, but this possibility is quite small, only between 5% and 10%,” said Abd Malik.

– BERNAMA