Rumblings heard on Mount Kinabalu yesterday

Lucy Suin, 32, who was still feeling the trauma of the June 5 earthquake, recalled hearing a loud noise around 1pm, "like that of a helicopter circling".

"I thought it was a helicopter but actually rocks were rolling down the mountain. I ran to a field for safety.

"The falling rocks have now flattened the forest at the mountain foothill. It wasn't like this on June 5. You can clearly see that the area is bare now," she told Bernama.

Kampung Kiau Nuluh is located about 10 kilometres from Kinabalu Park towards the south of the mountain.

Meanwhile, Kampung Kiau Nuluh Village Development and Security Committee chairman Sadib Miki, 47, said he was alarmed upon returning from an assignment elswehere outside the village to see residents gathering at his house.

"I was shocked when villagers told me about frightful tremors and the rumblings," he said.

Following the incident yesterday and on June 5, which had damaged more than 40 houses at the village, Sadib hoped the relevant authorities would come and inspect the area to assess its safety.

He said the residents were also open to any proposal by the geological experts on the future of the village.

Another resident Sinail Dunsun, 46, said he rushed out of his house upon hearing crashing sounds which he found out were made by the rocks.

"I have been living here for more than 40 years and never experienced any incident of this magnitude here before.

"It made me very afraid, especially when all I see at the foot of the mountain which used to be a forest is now a flat area," he said.

Meanwhile, Bernama found while surveying the village, that slight tremors could still be felt including at the St Ireneus Catholic church located in the vicinity.