M7.1 Earthquake near Kota Belud, Malaysia — 22 February 2026

Major earthquakes cause serious damage across wide regions and are capable of destroying buildings that were not designed for seismic loading. Events at this size frequently trigger long aftershock sequences lasting months.

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake radiates roughly 673,610 tons of TNT equivalent in seismic energy.

The USGS assigns this earthquake a significance score of 783, which meets the USGS threshold of more than 600 for its significant-earthquake list. The ranking combines magnitude with available Did You Feel It responses and PAGER alert level; it is not a direct measurement of damage.

That is about 00:42 local solar time at the epicentre, in the early hours of the morning.

This event was deeper than 100% of the 3 earthquakes recorded in Malaysia in our catalogue and stronger than 100% of them.

The epicentre was located at 6.8285, 116.2640 — 55 km north-northwest of Kota Belud.

At 620 km this was a deep-focus earthquake, occurring well inside the subducting slab rather than in the crust. Deep events are rarely damaging even at large magnitudes, though they can be felt over very long distances.

This catalogue does not ingest eyewitness responses, so it cannot confirm where this earthquake was felt. Based on magnitude alone, an event this size can produce strong, widely felt shaking. Its deep focus normally weakens surface shaking while spreading perceptible motion over a broad area.

The USGS event record links to NOAA tsunami information because this was a large event in an oceanic region. That link flag does not mean a tsunami occurred or that a warning is active. Check tsunami.gov and instructions from your local authority for the current status of your coastline.

No further earthquakes have been recorded within about 150 km of the epicentre in the seven days after this event.

No other earthquakes have been recorded within 100 km of this epicentre in the past year, which makes this a genuinely isolated event.

This earthquake is part of the February 2026 worldwide record, and of earthquakes in Malaysia during February 2026. Browse the full monthly archive to compare periods.