Earthquakes in Egypt through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Egypt. The strongest was a magnitude 7.2 on November 22, 1995 (27 km SSE of Nuwaybi‘a, Egypt).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake in October 1754 (Al-Qahirah (Cairo)), for which NOAA records 40,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 24 here, back to 222 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 12 of the events here, 106,876 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.4 on August 24, 2002 (Cairo). NOAA’s record here begins in 222 BCE with an earthquake (Siwa Oasis; Libya). It grows thinner going back: 6 of the 24 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began in or off Egypt, and one from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 4 m, on November 22, 1995. The deadliest here came on August 8, 1303 from a magnitude 8 earthquake (Aegean Sea): NOAA’s runup records count 70 deaths in Egypt.
The events
- August 24, 2002Earthquake · M 4.4CairoNOAA NCEI
- November 22, 1995Earthquake · M 7.227 km SSE of Nuwaybi‘a, Egypt · 11 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 22, 1995Tsunami · 4 m hereGulf Of Elat-AqabaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 3, 1993Earthquake · M 6.127 km NNE of Dahab, EgyptUSGS
- March 31, 1969Earthquake · M 6.629 km NE of El Gouna, Egypt · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 12, 1955Earthquake · M 6.2129 km NNW of Rosetta, Egypt · 22 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 11, 1879Earthquake · M 5.9 (est.)Gulf Of SuezNOAA NCEI
- October 1754EarthquakeAl-Qahirah (Cairo) · 40,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 1457EarthquakePalestine; Syria · 32,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- August 8, 1303TsunamiAegean Sea · 70 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 34 BCEEarthquakePalestine · 30,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- 222 BCEEarthquakeSiwa Oasis; LibyaNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Egypt when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Egypt is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Egypt, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history