UMS Geologist Suggests Sesmic Waves Monitoring Sensor Installation

KOTA KINABALU (Sabah, Malaysia), July 1 (Bernama) -- Universiti Malaysia Sabah (University Malaysia Sabah or UMS) geologist Prof Dr Felix Tongkul has suggested that seismic waves monitoring sensors be installed on top Mount Kinabalu to detect small tremors. He said it should be installed in future to enable effective monitoring of small tremors from a long distance. "If we have install the sensor, we can know whether the earthquake or small tremors are continuous or not," he told reporters after a public talk on the Ranau earthquake in UMS, Likas, a sub-district in the city of Kota Kinabalu here Tuesday. He said the absence of sensors made it difficult for researchers to identify if these were tremors that occurred or just post trauma after a tremor occurred as a result of the June 5 earthquake in East Malaysian state of Sabah. Following the earthquake, he said Mount Kinabalu was still not stable from the vibrations caused by fault movement moving towards the South China Sea. Felix said the earthquake that occurred in Sabah was not categorised as serious because of its position that was about 1,000 km away from the Pacific ring of fire. He also said during an earthquake, there were three seismic waves, namely primer wave, secondary wave and surface wave, which would be felt by the people residing in the earthquake epicentre and its surrounding area. However aftershocks felt in areas far from the epicentre are secondary and surface waves. He said the districts of Lahad Datu, Kunak and Tawau must also prepared for the eventuality of earthquakes occurring but the estimated time could not be ascertained. -- BERNAMA