5.5-Magnitude Quake Shakes Egypt, Tremors Felt Across Region

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Cairo: Early on Monday morning, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake with an epicentre roughly 40 kilometres north of Suez slammed eastern Egypt, forcing authorities to implement emergency response plans throughout the nation.

At a shallow depth of about ten kilometres, the earthquake happened at about 3 in the morning local time. Residents of Cairo, Giza, and a number of other governorates were awakened by it. Parts of Israel and Jordan, as well as El-Arish, close to Egypt's border with Gaza, reported shaking.

Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt's Health Minister, directed ambulance services to maintain full readiness and ordered the immediate activation of national emergency response plans. Additionally, as a precaution, the Egyptian Red Crescent advised locals to stay away from older or structurally unstable structures.

Authorities said that there were no immediate reports of fatalities, serious property damage, or injuries despite the widespread tremors. Rescue workers kept an eye out for any aftershocks and evaluated the impacted areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey later rated the magnitude of the earthquake at 5.0 after more study, while the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics first estimated it at 5.2 before changing it to 5.5.