KUNDASANG, June 7 — A geoscience centre should be set up to monitor Sabah for future earthquakes, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin said Friday’s earthquake here was unprecedented, but the heavy impact warranted a detailed study into to prevent future mishaps.
“We didn’t expect anything like this but it happened now we have to take precautionary measures going forward. We need some research into its potential of recurring and coming up with things like standard operating procedure, evacuation process and an early warning system,” he said.
“The department should consist of earthquake experts from Malaysia or abroad to monitor such movements continuously,” he said adding that it would be the first one of its kind in Malaysia specifically to study the region’s seismic movements.
Muhyiddin was here to assess the damage sustained following a 5.9 magnitude earthquake here on Friday.
He said the federal government will first study the proposal, before working with relevant ministries to determine the technology needed to monitor the geological movements.
Earlier, a mild tremor occurred about 10 minutes into a briefing by state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, causing Muyhiddin to taken away from the Liwagu building in Kinabalu Park.
Several tremors have continued to hit Sabah since the first one last Friday but no damage was reported.
Muhyiddin also said that repair and reconstruction works on damaged buildings in the hardest-hit Ranau and Kundasang region are ongoing, with the possibility of introducing new earthquake damage-control technology.
“We will study the need for it, and it might involve a higher cost but we will let them propose the appropriate technology which is currently being used in other countries,” he said.
In Sabah, some 33 schools were affected by the quake, most within the Ranau-Kundasang region. The district mosque and other buildings were also damaged.
The death toll from the quake that hit Sabah on Friday morning is now at 18, with one person still unaccounted for.
