"Hotel building swaying as if it would collapse" - Eyewitness

She was relating the impact of the moderate earthquake that hit Ranau in Sabah, about 108 km away from Kota Kinabalu, the state capital, where she is on a working visit.

Ruhaidini and her family members were staying at the Marina Court Hotel Apartment, Kota Kinabalu, when she felt the tremors for over 30 seconds.

"I screamed to my family members to save ourselves...we ran down the staircase with only the clothes on our backs and gathered at the hotel compound with other guests," said Ruhaidini who returned to the hotel when the situation improved.

Ruhaidini has also uploaded a photo on the scene at the hotel grounds following the earthquake, on her Facebook page.

A moderate earthquake of 5.9 magnitude occurred in Ranau, Sabah at 7.15am today, triggering tremors that were felt in many areas of Sabah, including Tambunan, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu and Kota Belud.

Perlis Education Department officer, Nazri Adam, 58, said at about 7.15am today, he suddenly felt dizzy and saw the chair, desk and bed in his hotel room shaking for several seconds.

"I ignored this, but when I received several WhatsApp messages on the earthquake...then I realised what actually happened," said the former student of Gaya Teacher Training Institute, who is in Kota Kinabalu to attend a reunion dinner with former students of the institute last night.

Nazri said, the quake struck when he was about to go out for breakfast.

Former teacher Roger Fong who lives in Keningau, Sabah, said he felt tremors early this morning, but was unsure whether it was an earthquake or not.

"So, I asked my friends through Facebook and they confirmed that there was an earthquake in Ranau," he said.

A teacher at a primary school in Tenom, Sabah, Lee Yen Fun said she also felt the tremors.

"This is my first such experience in Tenom. All this while, I have only seen such incidents on television and read news about earthquakes in the newspapers.

"Fortunately, the tremors were not strong here and I am grateful everyone is safe," she said.