The quake, near the border with Pakistan, injured more than 2,500 people in mountainous areas that rescue workers took hours to reach.

Malaysia has experienced strong earthquakes in the past, particularly in Sabah, according to Bernama. Quakes with magnitudes between 6.0 and 6.3 were recorded in 1923, 1958, 1976 and 2015. In Sarawak, the strongest recorded tremor was a 5.3-magnitude quake in 1994.