Articles and social media posts have repeatedly shared a false claim that Malaysia is now situated within the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire and several locations in the country are now exposed to earthquake risks. But geologists said the Southeast Asian country remains far from the Ring of Fire and it would take millions of years for it to shift into the region.

The claim was shared here on Facebook on May 4, 2023, by a page called "I Love Borneo" that has more than 100,000 followers.

The post includes an image showing a map and overlaid Malay-language text that reads: "Malaysia is now in the Pacific Ring of Fire, several areas identified as earthquake prone."

The post's caption reads: "According to an expert, a few areas in Sabah and Sarawak have been identified as having the likelihood of experiencing earthquakes that reach a seven on the Richter scale."

It includes a link to an article on the I Love Borneo website that makes the same claim.

The article states the claim was made by Professor Ir Dr Azlan based on 25 years of research.

"Several places have been identified that should be on the lookout, particularly Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Pilah in Negeri Sembilan, Manjung and Temenggor in Perak, and Kenyir in Terengganu," the article reads.

It further named several regions in Sabah and Sarawak as prone to earthquakes "up to 7 on the Richter scale", which measures the strength of tremors.

The claim was also shared by another blog site here.

The links to these...

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