Loading…
An earthquake recorded at magnitude 5.4 by Germany's GFZ struck near Suez in Egypt in the early hours of 3 August 2026.
It occurred at about 3 am local time at a shallow depth of roughly 10 km.
Tremors were felt across Cairo, the Nile Delta, Alexandria and Port Said, up to about 400 km from the epicentre.
Shaking was also reported in Israel, the Gaza Strip, Jordan and Lebanon.
The Egyptian Red Crescent activated its emergency response plan but reported no casualties or property damage.
Magnitude measures the energy released at the source and is a single number for any given earthquake. Intensity measures the shaking experienced at a particular place, and varies with distance, depth and local ground conditions. A magnitude 5.4 event is moderate, but this one was shallow — about 10 km deep — so the energy had little rock to travel through before reaching the surface, and shallow quakes are felt far more strongly and widely than deep ones of the same magnitude. Soft sediment amplifies shaking further, which is why the Nile Delta and Cairo, built on thick alluvium, registered the tremor clearly at considerable distance. The region sits in a tectonically active zone where the African and Arabian plates meet, associated with the Gulf of Suez rift and the Dead Sea transform fault system.
Simple Analogy: The same knock is far louder if it comes from just under the floorboards than from deep in the foundations.
General Awareness > World geography and current events
General Awareness > Geography and general science
GS Paper I > Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes
A measure of the energy released at an earthquake's source; a single value for the event.
A measure of the shaking felt at a particular location, which varies with distance, depth and ground conditions.
The depth below the surface at which an earthquake originates; shallow quakes cause stronger surface shaking.
The point on the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.
A major fault system along which the Arabian and African plates slide past each other.