The earthquake of magnitude 5.9 on the Richter scale on June 5, 2015 in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah was the strongest ever observed in the kingdom, Yunus Abdul Razak, Director General of the Department of Mineralogy and Geological and Geophysical Research of Malaysia, told the national news agency BERNAMA (Datuk Yunus Abdul Razak).
According to him, since 1897 at least 80 earthquakes have occurred in Sabakh, but none of them was comparable in strength to the last.
"The fragments of rocks (from the top of Mount Kinabalu) fell like rain, as after an explosion," - described his feelings BERNAMA 60-year-old participant in the ascent to the highest peak on the island of Kalimantan (Borneo) Lee Yoke Fah peak.
Shortly thereafter, a Malaysian cleric accused Western tourists of having relieved themselves of need on Mount Kinabalu, causing an earthquake. The head priest in Sabah, Malaysia's second-largest state, said violators must pay a fine of 10 buffaloes.
Religious leader Bobolian Tandarama Aman believes that the tourists angered the spirits living on the sacred mountain. Locals believe that the souls of the dead stop at Kinabalu to rest on their way to heaven.
They also believe that mountain spirits are rather evil creatures. The result of the disrespect that foreigners showed to the spirits was an earthquake, the victims of which were innocent people.
The priest also supported the proposal of local authorities to hold a mass prayer to calm the spirits, writes The Straits Times.
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It is noteworthy that the leadership of the state of Sabah also blames tourists for the natural disaster, the Independent reports. The police drew up protocols against five of them. The foreigners included two Canadian citizens, two from the Netherlands and one German.
The nationality of the remaining "violators" is not reported. It is only known that ten people separated from a large group of tourists and decided to take pictures on the sacred mountain. Later, the pictures appeared on social networks.
A week after that, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck Malaysia. It destroyed roads and buildings, including a hospital and several schools on the state's west coast, and killed 19 people.