CHAPTER 4:

The beginning of Earthquake in

Malaysia
4.1 Introduction
_____________________________________________________

Earthquakes are one of the world's most devastating and frightening

natural disasters. Undoubtedly, we are aware of the hazards, effects and damages
caused by this unpredicted natural disaster. Even though earthquake do not
directly kill people, the effects of this natural disaster can be seen when the
movements of buildings, mountains and bridges. The greatest hazard in an
earthquake is the collapse or fall of man-made and natural structures that causes
extensive losses of life and property. Movement of earth can also cause Tsunami
that will be hazardous to the coastal area. The worst case scenario was observed
in Aceh, Indonesia and the effects were also experienced in Penang and
Langkawi in 2004. As a result, the seismic effects should not only be considered
in the countries that have a high risk of a strong earthquakes, but also for
countries that are subject to low-to-moderate earthquakes for instance Malaysia
since the power of an earthquake has proven to be unpredictable.

4.2 What Is Earthquake

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Earthquake generally happened during two blocks of the earth slip past each
another. The contacted surface can be named either fault or fault plane. The
hypocenter is where the location of the earth surface earthquake started, and the
epicenter is where the place is directly above the earth surface.

Sometimes an earthquake has foreshock that happened in the similar location for
the occurrence of the larger earthquake. Many scientists unable to justify the
earthquake is a foreshock till occur of the larger earthquake. Moreover, the
largest earthquake is known as the main shock. Aftershocks always come after

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the occurrence of main shock. Aftershocks are smaller earthquake compare to the
main shocks where it will occur afterwards in the similar location. The duration
of the aftershocks is mostly influenced by the size of the main shock. It may last
for weeks, months or years after the main shock.

4.3 Earthquake in Malaysia

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Pacific Ring of fire is the region of active numbers of volcanic activities and
higher seismic activities which includes earthquake. Geographically wise,
Malaysia can be considered safe from severe hazards threat such as those
attributed to plate movements and volcanic eruptions. As can be seen in the
Figure 4.1, Malaysia is not directly accumulated in this region exhibiting that
these are not the major hazard concern. However, for the past decade, even some
coastal areas of Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo have suffered significant effect
of earthquake due to the possibility of active fault especially near the Sabah.

Figure 4.1: Ring of fire near Malaysia

(Source: http://www.earthobservatory.sg/ resources/maps/ring-fire)

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4.4 What Causes Earthquake
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First and foremost, earth consists of four most important layers which are
inner core, outer core, mantle as well as crust. Earth surface is made from the
crust and the top of mantle. However, the surface is made up from abandon of
sections covering the surface of the earth. Thus, the sections of the surface move
slowly, sliding and bumping with others. So, the sections called as puzzle pieces
tectonic plates, while the plate boundaries are for the edges of the plates.
Moreover, the plate boundaries are made from lots of faults where most of the
earthquakes take place. Hence, the edges of the plates are rougher than the other
part which allow it stuck together while the rest of keep sliding with each other.
As the result, the movement of the plates is great enough to cause earthquake.

4.5 Types of Earthquake Fault

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There are three commonly fault that normally happened as per Figure 4.2:

a) Normal: Mostly happen at the areas where the crust is being extended for
example a divergent boundary.
b) Reverse (Thrust): Mostly happen at the areas where the crust is being
shortened for example a convergent boundary.
c) Strike-slip: Strike-slip faults are considered as steep structures when the
two sides of the fault slip horizontally with each other. Transform
boundaries are most common type that happened. The oblique slip when
the earthquake is cause by two components known as dip-slip and strike-
slip.

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 Figure 4.2: Three Types of fault that triggers Earthquakes

4.6 How to Measure the Size of Earthquake

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Due to the seismic waves that inisde the ineterior of the Earth which
allow seismometers record the earthquake up to great distances. The magnitude
of a earthquake is usually recorded according to the numbers that based on the
scale of moment magnitude (magnitude 7 may cause serious damage), while the
felt magnitude is recordedbased on the modified Mercalli intensity scale II–XII.
Accorinding to some researchers, the magnitude of the eartquake can be
measured by using changes between the time arrival of the peak-frequncy
ampltidue in the accelerogram and the body-wave onset.

There are three varied types of seismic waves produced by every tremor, which
pass through the rock with vary velocities:

a) Longitudinal P-waves (shock or pressure waves)

b) Transerve S-waves (both body waves)
c) Surface waves (Rayleigh and Love waves)

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Moreover earthquakes are not only grouped according to their magnitude which
may also based on loaction of the earthquake. The world is distributed into 754
Flinn–Engdahl regions (F-E regions), that according to the political and
geographical boundaries and seismic activity. More active zones are belong to
the smaller F-E regions while less active zones divided to the larger F-E regions.

As mentioned by Wan Ahmad et al. (2015), the size of an earthquake can be

predicted using ground motion prediction equation (GMPE). GMPE can be done
using regression analysis using several recorded data. The general data of
earthquake contains the magnitude, date and time of occurrence, geographic
coordinates of its epicenter, depth of the epicenter, geographical region, distances
to population centers, location uncertainty, a number of parameters that are
included in USGS earthquake reports (number of stations reporting, number of
observations, etc.), and a unique event ID.

4.7 Statistical Data on Earthquake

Table 4.1 shows the statistic of overall earthquake incidents worldwide

observed between 2002 and 2012 as reported in United Sates Geological Survey
(USGS). The number of earthquake real-time occurrence worldwide up to 2015
is given in Table 4.2. It can be seen that the highest estimated death was recorded
in year 2010 with 24 times extreme earthquake magnitude of 7.0 – 9.9. However,
in 2004, with highest number of earthquake occurrence, but 35% of it in the
magnitude range between 4.0 and 4.9 and the 55% in the magnitude less than 4,
the total death estimated was about 29% lesser than the amount estimated in 2010.
This indicates that higher scale earthquake tends to cause higher casualties in
comparison with low impact earthquake. Therefore, it is important to ensure that
enough safety measure is taken in order to reduce factors that may contribute to
these casualties such as ample warning, earthquake resistant structure and smooth
disaster management.

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 Table 4.1: Total Number of Earthquake Worldwide from 2002 to 2012

Magnitude 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
8.0-9.9 0 1 2 1 2 4 0 1 1 1 2
7.0-7.9 13 14 14 10 9 14 12 16 23 19 11
6.0-6.9 127 140 141 140 142 178 168 144 150 185 96
5.0-5.9 1201 1203 1515 1693 1712 2074 1768 1896 2209 2276 1295
4.0-4.9 8541 8462 10888 13917 12838 12078 12291 6805 10164 13315 8710
3.0-3.9 7068 7624 7932 9191 9990 9889 11735 2905 4341 2791 2174
2.0-2.9 6419 7727 6316 4636 4027 3597 3860 3014 4626 3643 2721
1.0-1.9 10 134 103 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 0
0-0.9 2938 3608 2939 864 828 1807 1992 17 24 11 6
Total 27454 31419 31194 30478 28568 29685 31777 14825 21577 22289 15049
Estimated
1685 33819 228802 88003 6605 712 88011 1790 320120 21953 629
death
Source: USGS Science for a Changing World

Table 4.2: Number of Earthquake Worldwide for 2005-2015

Magnitude 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
8.0-9.9 1 2 4 0 1 1 1 2 2 1 1
7.0-7.9 10 9 14 12 16 21 19 15 17 11 18
6.0-6.9 140 142 178 168 144 151 204 129 125 144 124
5.0-5.9 1693 1712 2074 1768 1896 1963 2271 1412 1402 1577 1323
4.0-4.9 13918 12838 12080 14240 8862 12300 15798 12548 11341 16674 1479
Source: USGS Real-Time Earthquake

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4.8 Reports from Archives

Table 4.3 and 4.4 show the details of earthquake recorded in East and
West of Malaysia, respectively. Amongst all the recorded incidents, only the one
recorded in Ranau, Sabah caused 18 fatalities.

Table 4.3: Recorded Earthquake in East of Malaysia

Year Location Magnitude Death

23 February Tasik Kenyir,
2.7 -
2016 Terengganu
Tasik Kenyir,
11 March 2010 2.6 -
Terengganu
29 April 2004 Banting, Selangor 4.2 -
5 December
Janda Baik, Pahang 2.2
2009
09 October
Bukit Tinggi, Pahang 2.8 -
2009

On the 4th of June 2015, around 7.15 a.m., a 6.0 high Richter scaled earthquake
occurred in Ranau, Sabah (http://www.bharian.com.my/node/59280).The
earthquake centralized at 6.1 north, 116.6 east, and around 16 kilometers
southwest Ranau with 54 kilometers from underground was reported to also
affect Tambunan, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu, Beaufort and Kota Belud.

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 Table 4.4: Recorded Earthquake in West of Malaysia

Year Location Magnitude Death

04 June 2015 Ranau, Sabah 6.0 18
1 February 2014 Ranau, Sabah 4.8
28 May 2012 Lahad Datu, Sabah 4.6 -
26 February
Lahad Datu, Sabah 3.1
2010
04 September
Kudat, Sabah 4.5 -
2009
18 May 2008 Tawau, Sabah 5.0 -
09 April 2008 Semporna, Sabah 4.5 -
24 February Lidung Jelo,
5.3 -
2007 Sarawak
28 September Taman Rajawali,
4.5 -
2006 Sabah
Data Kakus,
19 April 2005 4.2 -
Sarawak
01 May 2004 Miri, Sarawak 5.2 -
07 April 2002 Kudat, Sabah 5.1 -
19 February
Kapit, Sarawak 4.7 -
1994

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 Figure 4.3: Broken ceiling and glasses due to the earthquake (Source:
http://www.bharian.com.my/node/59280)

On the same day, around 130 peoples were stranded on the Mount of Kinabalu
due to the earthquake. During the critical situation, a group of “malim gunung” or
mountain guide provided rescues to show the stranded peoples ways on climbing
down the mountain. On that occasion, four brave mountain guides sacrificed their
life while trying to protect the climbers. Total number of death recorded was 18.

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Figure 4.4: Part of the stranded climbers and mount guide on the Mount of Kinabalu
(Source: http://www.bharian.com.my/node/59316)

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4.9 Case Study: 2015 Sabah Earthquake
______________________________________________________

The occurrence of the earthquake happened on the 5th June 2015 at

7.15a.m. at the depth which was approximately 10 km with the epicenter of 15
km north of Ranau. The duration of the earthquake was about thirty seconds.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Malaysian
Meteorological Department (MMD), the earthquake was recorded with 6.0 Mw
and 5.9 Ms respectively. One of the major factors that cause this earthquake was
the movement on SW-NE trending normal fault.

Since Mount Kinabalu was located near the epicenter of the earthquake and lead
to severe landslides around the mountain by the shaking of the earthquake at that
time. Moreover, there occur of three aftershocks in the immediate aftermath of
the earthquake that happened on the same day. The first and second aftershocks
were recorded as 4.3 Mw that happen around 21.10 and 23.13 respectively; for the
case of the third aftershock was recorded as 2.8 M w at time of 23.32. By 23rd
June, there were 90 aftershocks had been reported by the MMD at Ranau. The
ranges of magnitude of the aftershocks were recorded from the range of 1.6 to 5.2
M w.

Sabah earthquakes were caused by the presence active fault lines and it receiving
the compression forces till present from the interaction of the three main tectonic
plates. This is because, the location of the Sabah was located at the southeastern
Eurasian Plate where it bordered by the Philippine and Pacific plate. Since
Philippine Plate as well as Pacific Plate was tend to move westwards at 10cm per
year which is colliding to the Eurasian Plate. Moreover, southern part of the
Australian plate tend to move northwards with the speed of 7cm per year. As a
result, the plate boundary is indirectly unstable and very active. Although the
location of Sabah is approximately 1000 km from the collision plates, it is still
able to receive the compression force by those plates. Figure 4.5 represented the
location of the occurrence of the earthquake at Ranau, Sabah.

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 Figure 4.5: Location of Occurrence of Earthquake
Source: Lalate News (online)

During the earthquake events, 18 climbers were confirmed dead from different
countries which include Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan and Philippines.
Moreover, one of the peaks in the Mount Kinabalu was broken due to the event.
Thus, severe damages occurred to the hostels where the location near to the
summit of the mountain. Most of the building in Kota Belud and Tuaran suffered
the similar effect. In addition, the area around Kudasang and Ranau had suffered
from water supply disruption since the main water drainage pipe was destroyed
as well as most of plants in those regions were suffered due to serious damage
with leakage at the deposition tank.

During the incidence, Sabah Local Mountain guides were the first rescuers, thus
Fire and Rescue Department, Royal Malaysia as well as Malaysian Armed Forces
supply rescue equipment. Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak ordered the
army troops to standby to rescue the victims who stranded in the Mount Kinabalu.
Hence, it was ordered to the National Security Council (NSC) to provide an early
warning systems for earthquake where should be located at school, buildings and
seismic center to allow them to monitor the activity of the earthquake.

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Besides that, AirAsia Company collaborated with Malaysia Volunteer Fire and
Rescue Association (MVFRA) to transfer relief needs to Sabah. The Malaysian
Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) collaborated with local
telecommunications companies to raise fund for the victims. Apart from that, the
Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) had managed to hold a
special prayer for the well-being of the residence in Sabah. In addition to that,
Sarawak State Government and the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim has donated a
total of RM 1 million respectively to the victims.

Figure 4.6 and 4.7 below showed the condition of the roads and buildings after
hit by the earthquake. It can be clearly seen that the roads and buildings suffered
severe damages. It required time, effort and money to reconstruct and rebuild the
building to allow being functional again.

Figure 4.6: Condition of the Ro ad at Ranau after Earthquake

Source: Borneo Post online (online)

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 Figure 4.7: Building at Ranau after Earthquake
Source: Qatar News Agency (online)

4.10 Impact of Disaster

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Earthquake is one of the disasters that may have many impacts either to
the nature, communities or country as a whole. In order to understand more on
the impact of this disaster, further explanation is given here.

4.10 (a) Ground Shaking

Ground shaking affected by the passage of seismic waves; mostly the waves are
located close to the epicenter of the earthquake which responsible for the most
severe damage during the event. The strength of ground shaking is influenced by:

a) Conditions of the local geology: solid bedrock is more likely subject to

shaking than loose sediments.
b) Duration and intensity of the earthquake are mostly depending on the size
of the earthquake.
c) Distance: the distance from the epicenter increase as the intensity of the
shaking reduced. However, it mostly be influenced by the materials that
which underlying the area.

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4.10 (b) Damage to Man Made Structures

Destruction of the structures, for example highways, bridges, dams as

well as buildings:

a) Concrete as well as masonry building and structures are considered as

brittle and more vulnerable to severe destruction or collapse.
b) Destruction to the wood as well as steel building and structures is lesser
since the behavior of flexibility.

4.10 (c) Fires

Fires, normally caused by broken electrical as well as gas lines, since

both of that are normally happen during earthquakes. Thus, the gas may be set
free since the gases lines are destroy and a single spark may bring ‘inferno’. Thus,
the water is fewer water supplies to extinguish the fire since the water line was
destroyed during the event. One of severe example is the San Francisco
earthquake of 1906 that caused 90% of damage due to the fire.

4.10 (d) Landslides

Buildings are not the only structures to be destroyed or fail due to

earthquake. Thus, there are consists of several unstable regions of the hillsides or
mountains. Occurrence of landslide is an obvious hazard, thus it able to cause
severe issue when it blocks the road which bring inconvenient during the rescue
mission.

Sometimes earthquake can cause large landslides. In 1970 an earthquake in the

coast of Peru trigger a landslide where the earthquake was 80 miles away. The
slide was large with the estimated of 30 meters in height and travelled more than
one-hundred per miles per hour. The landslide destroys some parts of the villages
and more than 18000 people dead in the event

In certain cases, when the earth surface is underlain by a sand rich layer of soil,
prolonged shaking may generate the expulsion of fluid that resulting in large
"sand blows" that erupt through the overlying strata.

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4.10 (e) Tsunami

Tsunami is known one of the most severe effects of earthquake. The

giant waves which may reach up to 100 feet’s caused by the tsunamis that able to
cause serious floods and damages to the surrounding. These waves strike from a
great distance from the center of the earthquake events. As the result, tsunami,
often occur from the sub-sea faulting of the ocean flow that sending the seismic
shocks through the sea water. The giant waves that generated normally is low
amplitude but for a long period and move more than 500 mph.

4.11 Policy and Mechanism in the Management of National

Disaster and Relief in Malaysia

The policy of the earthquake disaster management should be included in

the National Disaster Relief Plan of Malaysia in the near future. Since Malaysia
is known to be a place with less earthquake occurrence region or country, there is
not much plan or procedure had been stated in any policy yet. Ever since the
incidence of Ranau, Sabah, it clearly shows that Malaysia has high probability to
be affected by the earthquake which required a standard policy soon.

4.12 Post Disaster Management

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia recently said that Malaysia is keen to

learn Japan’s Disaster Management (The Star, 2016). National Disaster
Management Agency (NADMA) is formed to act as a centre in handling the
national disaster. It is reported that since Miyagi Prefecture, Japan is offering to
allocate some officers there, significant experiences can be obtained in preparing
the agency to manage the situation in future. Miyagi Prefecture was hit by an
earthquake of 9.0 of Richter scale in 2011 and a huge tsunami causing a
catastrophe including loss of lives and destruction of infrastructure.

Referring to Science Plan on Hazards and Disasters: Earthquakes, Floods and

Landslides (ICSU ROAP, 2008) sufficient information is given in preparing for
the earthquake hazards. This includes providing education and awareness about
the earthquake, including preparation on what to do before, during and after the

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earthquake. In addition to that, it is crucial to install a warning system that can
trigger the monitoring center before the actual event. Placing a suitable
earthquake detector at seismic stations at an appropriate distance may help in
informing the forthcoming waves from earthquake before its even reach to the
ground areas.

There is not enough information on full procedures in managing post disaster in

Malaysia. However, government is working towards in gathering experience and
effective means to cater the situation once occurred.

4.13 Prevention and Infrastructure Design

In order to prevent further calamities, design codes are improved with

certain consideration for the loading caused by earthquake, or seismic loading to
be precise. For instance, in a multi-storey building, in earthquake prone region
(outside Malaysia), a plate base can be used to isolate the structures, and
absorbed the energy during earthquake. Besides, the structures also can be design
to have higher reinforcement in columns, so that the plastic hinges will be in the
beam elements.

In countries that are prone to earthquake hazard, significant researches are carried
out in order to withstand the building from collapse during earthquake; or to
rehabilitate the existing structures suffered from earthquake damages. For
instance, adding fibres into reinforced concrete structures improves the load
carrying capacity, energy absorption and ductility of the structures. Through
incorporation of fibres, the problem of steel congestion in beam-column joints
(for seismic design) can also be reduced. Abbas et al (2014) investigated the
potential of reducing the steel congestion in reinforced concrete beam-column
joints using steel fibres by increasing the actual spacing in the joint.

It was reported that even with 1% of steel fibres in volume fraction, the strength,
ductility and energy absorption of joints with increased in stirrups spacing of 50%
improved and comparable to the control joint. Through this investigation, it was
concluded that steel fibres have the capability to compensate the lost in shear
reinforcement in the structures.

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4.14 Recommendations
______________________________________________________

Over the decades, ongoing researches are being carried out in order to
accommodate better preparation on pre- and post-earthquake disaster. This
includes a good planning and design for earthquake resistant building that can
absorb the tremors of earthquake and reduce maintenance cost post-earthquake. It
is also crucial to strengthen the existing structure to resist the strong tremors and
improve safety measurement for earthquake condition. Furthermore, better
understanding on execution on post disaster management will benefits not only
the communities but the overall country as well.

References
______________________________________________________

1. http://news.lalate.com/2015/06/04/malaysia-earthquake-2015-today-strikes-
ranau/

2. http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/06/05/photo-essay-earthquake-photos-
debunked/

3. http://www.qna.org.qa/en-us/News/15061809260017/Earthquake-Hits-
Malaysias-Ranau

4. http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/05/30/ahmad-zahid-malaysia-
keen-to-learn-disaster-management-from-japan/

5. http://www.nadma.gov.my/nadma/

6. http://www.ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_5_March_2012/9.pdf

7. http://www.icsu.org/asia-pacific/publications/science-planning-
reports/science-plan-on-hazards-and-disasters/Earthquake-%20Floods%20-
%20Landslides.pdf

8. http://www.bharian.com.my/node/59316

9. http://www.bharian.com.my/node/59280

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10. Ali A. Abbas, Sharifah M. Syed Mohsin, and Demetrios M. Cotsovos, 2014.
Seismic response of steel fibre reinforced concrete beam-column joints;
Engineering Structures, Volume 59, Pages 261 – 283.

11. Wan Ahmad, S., Adnan, A., Noor, R.M., Muthusamy, K., Razak, S.K.M.S.K.,
Taib, A. and Zahid, M.Z.A.M. 2015. Attenuation function relationship for far
field earthquake considered by strike slip mechanism. Applied Mechanics
and Materials.754-755:897-901.

Author’s Biography

__________________________________________________________

Saffuan Wan Ahmad, PhD, PE was graduated in Bachelor of Civil Engineering

from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai, Johor. He has a PhD degree
in Civil Engineering from same university. He has seven years experiences as
Civil and Structural Engineer in several companies starting from year 2007. He is
very active in consultancy work and also journals and conferences publications.
His interest is related to structure and material, seismic design and earthquake
engineering.

Sharifah Maszura Syed Mohsin, PhD is a senior lecturer in Universiti Malaysia

Pahang. She holds a PhD in Structural Engineering (Seismic Loading) from
Imperial College, London. Her fields of interest is in reducing the steel
congestion of reinforced concrete structures due to seismic design, renewable and
green material for concrete and recycle concrete.

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