Love, Loss and the Mountain: Dwinah’s Kinabalu Earthquake Story
When the 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Mount Kinabalu on June 5, 2015, it wasn’t only the climbers and guides on the mountain who were affected. Down below, staff and locals who called Kinabalu Park home were thrown into chaos, terrified for their friends and family above and scrambling to help those returning from the mountain.
One of them was Dwinah Sinti.
Dwinah is a Service Manager at Sutera Sanctuary Lodges and was one of the first responders on the ground that day. But more than her role at the park, she was family to those who were lost. Robbie Sapinggi was her cousin and closest friend. Joseph Solungin was married to another cousin of hers. This is her story of what it was like to lose them both.
A Tremor That Changed Everything
“I was at home with my late mother when it happened,” she recalled. “The shaking was so strong.”
It was the first time she’d ever experienced an earthquake. She hadn’t yet arrived at work, but within minutes, she was rushing to the park. What she witnessed was chaos. Staff ran to the assembly point. No one knew exactly what had happened, only that it had been catastrophic.
Among the first to make it down were two staff from Laban Rata. They arrived by 8:00 AM, barely an hour after the quake. Both had sustained serious injuries. Their feet were fractured. And yet they had walked all the way down.
Memories of Robbie
(Photo: Wordpress)
What Dwinah remembers most is seeing Robbie the day before the earthquake.
“June 4th, he visited me. He wanted to eat, so I waited for him at Balsam Café,” she said, tears beginning to fall. “That was the last time I saw him.”
Robbie was more than a cousin. He was one of her closest friends, known by everyone for his warmth, his playfulness, and his willingness to help anyone in need. “He was friendly, easy-going, and so loving to everyone,” she said. “He was a good person.”
The news of his death came not from an announcement, but from a quiet moment at reception.
“I tried to avoid Robbie’s father because I knew what he was going to say. But I turned and saw Robbie's younger brother. He hugged me and said, ‘Robbie is gone.’”
And Then, Joseph
It took longer to confirm Joseph Solungin’s death. Dwinah had been hoping that he was among the survivors.
He was a guide and a colleague. And like Robbie, he was family. Joseph had married Dwinah’s cousin, Rozitah Daimin. The two of them were part of the close-knit web of staff and kin who worked in and around the park.
“When we finally received the news... it was so hard,” she said.
Balsam Becomes a Shelter
In the hours following the earthquake, Kinabalu Park transformed. The once-orderly operations turned into an emergency zone.
With many of the staff injured or missing, Dwinah and others did what they could to help. They reopened Balsam Café, not for paying guests but as a safe space for frontline workers and climbers’ families. “We opened it for those on duty – security, rescue teams, agents. Anyone who needed food or drink. No payment,” she said.
They weren’t forced to come back to work. They came because they wanted to help. “Most of us had family up there,” she explained. “And many families of the climbers had started arriving. We wanted to give them strength.”
Holding Each Other Up
In the weeks that followed, the trauma remained. Even now, a decade later, Dwinah finds it hard to speak of that time.
“Even after all these years, I struggle to describe my experience,” she said. “Only God knows how I felt in that time.”
She remembers the constant aftershocks, sometimes every 30 minutes. One was especially strong, around 1:30AM. “It shook so hard, Mesilou collapsed. At Liwagu, windows shattered. There were big cracks. Even in our kampung, three houses became unliveable.”
When she looked up toward the mountain, she could see the rocks still falling. “The sound was... I can’t describe it. And the smoke, the dust from the rocks. It was huge.”
A Changed Mountain
For Dwinah, the mountain is different now. Not visibly – Mount Kinabalu still draws climbers and tourists – but emotionally.
“Before the earthquake, when we climbed, we just enjoyed the view. After the earthquake, when I go up, I have all these questions in my head. What if it happens again?”
And yet, Dwinah still finds peace in the mountain’s quiet, in the gentle rhythm of park life. “There’s nowhere like this. The people here, the scenery, it’s so peaceful. Even at this hour, it’s quiet. You feel calm being here.”
Since 2015, significant safety improvements have been made: reinforced trails, clearer emergency protocols, and trained response teams to support climbers and staff. Today, Mount Kinabalu is safer and better prepared.
But for those who lived through that morning, the fear is never far. The mountain may be more secure than ever, but the memories still lie just beneath the surface.
What It Taught Us
Despite her grief, Dwinah carries forward one thing above all: the importance of love.
“Wherever you are, take care of your family. Appreciate them. Because we never know when they won’t be with us anymore.”
She adds, “What happened here taught us how to love. How to care for one another. Even if it’s just a short moment together, please recognise when someone truly loves you. Like Robbie.”
She pauses.
“That’s all. It’s okay, yeah.”
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