The United States Geological Survey
recorded a Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake at a depth of 9 km on the coast of the Indoneasian province of East Kalimantan on Borneo slightly after 2.45
am local time on Monday 21 December 2015 (slightly after 6.45 pm on Sunday 20 December
GMT). People have reported feeling the quake across East Kalimantan and Malaysian Sabah, though there are no reports of any injuries or significant damage.
The approximate location of the 21 December 2015 East Kalimantan Earthquake. Google Maps.
Borneo forms part of the Sunda Plate, a breakaway section of the
Eurasian Plate caught between the converging Eurasian, Indo-Australian,
Philippine and Pacific Plates. It is being pushed to the north by the
movement of the Indo-Australian Plate to the south (which is being
subducted beneath the Sunda Plate along the southern shores of the
islands of Java and Sumatra), and to the west by the movement of the
Philippine Plate to the east (which is being subducted beneath the Sunda
Plate to the east of the Philippines). To the southeast of the island
the Moluca and Banda Plates, which together form the island of Sulawesi,
are being subducted beneath the Sunda Plate along the southeastern
shore of Borneo, pushing the island to the northwest, and creating
further tectonic stresses.
Witness
accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events,
and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit
organization Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.
See also...
Casualties confirmed following Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake in Sabah State, Malaysian Borneo. The United States Geological Survey
recorded a Magnitude 6.0...
Two killed by landslide in Sabah State, Malaysia. Two people have been killed by a landslide at a logging site in Sabah
State, Malaysia, on Wednesday 4 June 2014. Aliman Juvie De Jesus (21)
and Yande...
Family has close escape as landslide hits house in Penampang, Malaysia. A family of five had a close escape when a landslide hit their house in
Penampang District in Malaysia's Sabah Province, at about 4.00 ppm local
time (about 8.00 am GMT) on Sunday 8 September 2013. The event happened
in the Kampung Kolopis area as part of a hillside collapsed following
several hours of heavy rain that led to flash flooding in parts of the
district...
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