Minor earthquake felt in Red Sea’s Hurghada, no damages reported

CAIRO – 19 January 2020: A minor earthquake of a 4.09 magnitude was felt in the popular Red Sea resort of Hurghada on Saturday, but caused no reported damage or casualties, the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics reported.

The minor earthquake hit 97 km southeast of Hurghada, inside the Red Sea, according to NRIAG.

Egypt is not known for the occurrence of frequent earthquakes. However, it witnessed a couple of strong quakes in its modern history.

The strongest and latest powerful earthquake hitting Egypt took place in November, 1995 in the Gulf of Aqaba, hitting also Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale. 12 people reportedly died.

However, it is not the largest earthquake in terms of total damage. In 1992, a 5.3 magnitude hit Cairo, and caused the death of 545 people, according to World Data.