A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck roughly 40 kilometres north of Suez at around 3:00 a.m. local time on Monday, with tremors felt as far as the capital Cairo and El-Arish near the Gaza border. Egypt's health minister ordered nationwide emergency plans to be activated and placed ambulance services on highest alert, though no deaths, injuries, or significant damage were immediately reported. The Egyptian Red Crescent urged residents to stay away from older, structurally weakened buildings as a precaution — a notable concern in Cairo's densely populated working-class districts, given that a magnitude 5.8 quake near the capital in 1992 killed more than 500 people.