Sabah quake: A geologist's perspective

Dr Felix pointing to Mount Kinabalu.

Earthquake tremors are the result of a rapid release of energy where seismic waves move in all directions from the source, known as a focus. A point on the Earth's surface above the focus is called the earthquake centre. For example, the centre of the Ranau earthquake is near the peak of Mount Kinabalu. This means the focus of the earthquake was underneath its centre; in this case it was 10km below the centre. This is what caused the massive landslides

Tremors usually occur along faults, or longitudinal cracks in the earth that have bent and snapped back in what is called an elastic rebound.