5.5-magnitude earthquake shakes eastern Egypt, prompting emergency response

A 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Egypt early Monday, rattling Cairo and surrounding areas and prompting authorities to activate the country’s emergency health response, despite no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake struck at around 3:00am local time (0000 GMT), approximately 40 kilometres north of Suez, according to Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), which later revised the magnitude upward from 5.2 to 5.5.