According to the Meteorological Services Department, the tremors were felt here, Tuaran, Penampang and Ranau.
"The epicentre was traced to a location 16km northwest of Ranau at a depth of 10km," the department revealed in its alert on social media. According to van driver Jiliun Gawing, he could see the power cables swaying while driving past Kundasang towards Sandakan this morning.
"I thought it was the wind but the wavy movement looked odd and I can see that vegetables by the roadside looking edgy as they stepped out of their stalls," he said.
Jiliun, from Menggatal said he did not experience the tremor in as he was inside a moving vehicle.
Meanwhile, operators of the Laban Rata Resthouse on Mount Kinabalu activated its emergency evacuation procedure soon after the 4.0 magnitude earthquake occurred at 9.39am. Sabah Parks director Dr Jamili Nais who was in the vicinity said he could hear employees of the resthouse shouting instructions for people to leave the building and head to a designated gathering zone outside.
"I was also an evacuee and its good to note things are in place as far as safety SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure) up here.
It was a good real time experience to gauge our capabilities," he said when contacted.
Jamili said the tremor was brief and based on reports he received, climbers who were descending the 4,095m peak were also sent rushing down but with assistance from mountain guides and rangers on duty.
"All is well though and at the time most of the climbers were on their way down." added Jamili who climbed the mountain to check on two sites being reconstructed.
On June 5 last year, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck Ranau. Lasting for 30 seconds, the earthquake was said to be the strongest to affect Malaysia since 1976.
Eighteen people died on Mount Kinabalu, with most of the deaths being members of a group from Tanjong Katong Primary School in Singapore.
-NST
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