Kota kinabalu: Residents of Kota Kinabalu and nearby Putatan faced a tense 10 seconds of fear at midnight as an earthquake rattled the waters off the coast, sending waves of panic through the area.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Jalius Majin, 45, an e-hailing driver, said he was resting in his living room on the fifth floor of Taman Sri Serigai People's Housing Project in Putatan when the tremor struck. He recounted how the quiet night turned to panic as his sofa shook violently, with walls and the roof creaking. He described the quake as lasting around 10 seconds but feeling much longer, with ceiling fans and picture frames shaking violently. Realizing the danger, he woke his wife and three children, and the family hurried down the emergency stairs to the car park.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) reported a 6.8-magnitude earthquake off Kota Kinabalu at 12.57 a.m., with no tsunami threat. Clinic assistant Clarice Eve Mojigoh, 28, who lives with her mother on the sixth floor, shared her experience of the tremor. She was just about to rest after work when she woke to find her wardrobe door swinging open due to the building's movement. She described feeling dizzy from the swaying and quickly got her mother to safety, grabbing only a flashlight and her phone.

Meanwhile, Md Zamri Yusof, 32, a cleaning company worker, faced the midnight scare just after locking the equipment storage room in a commercial block at Aeropod, Tanjung Aru. Initially attributing his dizziness to night-shift fatigue, he soon realized the corridor floor was swaying. The tremor lasted around 10 seconds, forcing him to hold onto the corridor railing as he witnessed roller shutters rattling and screeching loudly. Sensing the quake's strength, Md Zamri chose the stairs over the lift to reach safety.

The tremor was widely felt by residents in Kota Kinabalu and surrounding areas, especially those living in high-rise buildings.