A powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck deep beneath the sea off Malaysia’s Sabah coast on February 22, 2026, rattling parts of the country and the wider South China Sea. The epicenter was located north of Kota Belud, but the quake originated so far underground that early reports indicated shaking rather than destruction. The event matters now because people across the region are asking whether there is any tsunami risk, whether more shocks are coming, and what this kind of deep quake says about seismic hazards in the area.
Early data from international monitoring centers show a powerful but unusually deep event that behaved very differently from the shallow coastal earthquakes that most often cause major damage. With no tsunami warning in effect and no immediate damage reports, attention has shifted to understanding what happened below the surface and what residents along Malaysia’s coasts should watch for next.
What scientists know about the quake so far
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the event as a magnitude 7.1 earthquake with the internal event ID us6000sasz, placing the epicenter 56 km north northwest of Kota Belud in Sabah. According to the same seismic record, the origin time was 2026-02-22T16:57:46Z and the focus was about 620 km beneath the surface, a depth that classifies it as a deep-focus earthquake rather than the shallower events that usually cause major surface damage. That combination of high magnitude and extreme depth helps explain why the shaking was widely detected but early reports did not show scenes of collapsed buildings or widespread structural failure.
Separate bulletins from tsunami monitoring agencies match those core parameters, listing an event magnitude of 7.1 (Mwp), an origin time of 2026-02-22T16:57:46 UTC, and a depth of 619 km for the same seismic shock, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System. Wire reports that draw on the same U.S. Geological Survey data describe the epicenter as roughly 55 km north northwest of Kota Belud and confirm that the quake shook parts of Malaysia without immediately triggering scenes of destruction. Together, these measurements paint a consistent technical picture: a powerful event that released energy far below the crust, limiting its impact at ground level even as instruments registered a high magnitude.
No tsunami alert and limited early damage
The most urgent question for coastal communities after any large offshore quake is whether a tsunami is on the way. For this event, the answer from official monitors was clear: there was no tsunami warning, advisory, watch, or threat in effect, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System. That assessment is consistent with the extreme depth of about 619 km reported in the same bulletin, because tsunamis are typically generated when an earthquake rapidly displaces the seafloor, a process that is far less likely when the rupture begins hundreds of kilometers down in the mantle.
Early regional reporting also pointed to limited immediate physical damage. Coverage datelined Kuala Lumpur said there were no immediate damage reports after the magnitude 7.1 shock, which was attributed to the U.S. Geological Survey and described as a deep event located near Kota Belud in Sabah, according to an Associated Press summary. That same account noted that the quake shook parts of Malaysia but did not, in the first hours, produce confirmed casualties or large-scale structural failures. Taken together with the tsunami status, the early picture is of a frightening jolt that disrupted daily life but did not escalate into a regional disaster.
Where the shaking was felt
Instrument readings and early media reports agree that the earthquake affected both land and sea in the region. Mapping by a major U.S. outlet that tracks global seismic activity described a 7.1 magnitude earthquake shaking the South China Sea and situated the event within a broader pattern of regional seismicity, according to an interactive graphic produced by a team including William B. Davis and Madison Dong that noted all times in Eastern Time. That map-based treatment placed the focus near Sabah and showed how the energy radiated across the surrounding waters, aligning with the epicentral coordinates published by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Text reports datelined Kuala Lumpur added that the quake shook parts of Malaysia, drawing again on U.S. Geological Survey measurements that fixed the magnitude at 7.1 and the depth at about 620 km near Kota Belud, according to an Associated Press dispatch. A separate account that also relied on the same seismic data repeated the 7.1 figure and the connection to the U.S. Geological Survey’s monitoring network, according to a report carried by a Washington-based outlet that cited the agency’s survey methods and located the event off Malaysia. These overlapping descriptions support what residents described informally: noticeable shaking across Sabah and nearby areas, but without the kind of concentrated damage that would be expected from a shallow coastal rupture of the same magnitude.
Why the depth changed the risk
The depth figure of about 620 km is not just a technical detail; it is central to why this earthquake produced limited surface damage and no tsunami warning. Deep-focus earthquakes release their energy far below the crust, so by the time seismic waves reach the surface they have spread out, reducing the intensity of shaking at any one point, according to the U.S. Geological Survey event record. In contrast, shallow quakes that rupture at depths of a few tens of kilometers or less can produce far more violent ground motion directly above the fault, which is why coastal communities often fear smaller magnitude but shallower events more than deep ones.
The same geometry helps explain the tsunami outcome. The tsunami bulletin listing an event magnitude of 7.1 (Mwp), a depth of 619 km, and an origin time of 16:57:46 UTC concluded that there was no tsunami warning, advisory, watch, or threat, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the U.S. Tsunami Warning Centers. Because tsunamis usually arise when a fault suddenly lifts or drops the seafloor, a rupture that begins hundreds of kilometers down in the mantle is far less efficient at moving the ocean bottom. That physical reality is why many seismologists treat deep, powerful quakes as dramatic but often less destructive at the surface than smaller, shallow ones that directly disturb the seabed or lie under populated areas.
How official systems reacted and what comes next
Within minutes of the origin time, automated systems at seismic and tsunami agencies processed the raw data and issued public parameters. The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center published the event ID us6000sasz with a magnitude of 7.1, an epicenter 56 km north northwest of Kota Belud, and a depth near 620 km, according to the official weather and hazard feeds that distribute those figures globally. Tsunami specialists working with the same origin time of 2026-02-22T16:57:46 UTC and a depth of 619 km evaluated whether the seafloor had been displaced enough to warrant coastal alerts and concluded that it had not, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System. That rapid cycle from detection to public bulletin is designed to give coastal residents and port operators clear guidance in the critical first hour after a large offshore quake.
Newsrooms in Kuala Lumpur and abroad then relayed those technical findings to a wider audience, often emphasizing that the U.S. Geological Survey had measured a magnitude 7.1 event and that there were no immediate damage reports, according to coverage that cited the agency’s survey data and described how the quake shook parts of Malaysia. One major Washington-based outlet repeated the 7.1 figure and the involvement of the U.S. Geological Survey in its account of the Malaysian quake, according to a report that linked the event to the agency’s Geological Survey methods and framed it within broader regional seismic activity. While those narratives help the public grasp the scale of the event, they also risk creating the impression that any magnitude 7 quake is equally dangerous, a view that the depth and tsunami status in this case clearly challenge.
What residents should take from this event
For people in Sabah and along the South China Sea, the main takeaway is that a very strong earthquake can occur nearby without automatically producing a tsunami or widespread destruction when it originates at great depth. The combination of a magnitude 7.1 shock, an epicenter about 56 km north northwest of Kota Belud, and a depth of roughly 620 km, as documented by the U.S. Geological Survey, shows how much the vertical position of a rupture matters for real-world impact. Residents who felt the shaking but did not see major damage experienced the practical effect of that depth difference, even if they never saw the technical numbers.
At the same time, the event is a reminder that coastal communities remain exposed to other kinds of seismic risk. Reports that there were no immediate damage accounts and that there was no tsunami warning, advisory, watch, or threat, according to early international coverage and official tsunami bulletins, should not be read as a guarantee that future quakes will behave the same way. The deep origin of this shock limited its impact, but shallower events in the same broad region could produce stronger local shaking or displace the seafloor in ways that generate dangerous waves. For now, the best lesson residents can draw is that rapid official alerts from seismic and tsunami centers, combined with local preparedness plans, remain the most reliable guide when the ground starts to move.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
