A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck 38 kilometers north of Suez early Monday, sending tremors across Cairo, the Nile Delta, and neighboring regions in the Middle East.
Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics reported the quake occurred shortly after 3:00 a.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers. Emergency authorities confirmed no immediate casualties or structural damage.
In response to the early-morning tremors, Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar placed nationwide ambulance units on maximum alert, while the Egyptian Red Crescent mobilized emergency teams across affected governorates.
The seismic event was felt beyond Egyptian borders, with residents reporting light-to-moderate shaking in parts of southern Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. The Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre registered thousands of public reports.
International monitoring agencies recorded varying initial measurements. The German Research Centre for Geosciences logged the magnitude at 5.4, while the U.S. Geological Survey registered a shallow 5.0-magnitude tremor.
While moderate earthquakes occur periodically along the Gulf of Suez and Red Sea rift zones, major seismic events in Egypt remain relatively uncommon compared to other Mediterranean regions.
Egypt’s most destructive modern quake occurred in October 1992, when a 5.8-magnitude tremor near Dahshur killed over 500 people and damaged thousands of buildings in greater Cairo.
