EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE

Earthquakes with magnitude of up to 7.3 (Ms) have been occurred in Egypt causing casualties and significant damage to the property (in some cases including ancient structures) both on historical and recent times. The most recent earthquakes those occurred on October 1992 (Cairo), November 1995 (Aqaba) and October 1996 (Cyprus). The review of the damage caused by earthquake show that both small local and large distant earthquakes could cause a sever damage in Egypt.

Destructive Earthquakes in Egypt

There are historical and recent earthquakes reported in Egypt. The total reported damage depends mainly on the size of the earthquake, local geology and location with respect to the populated areas.

The last two recent destructive earthquakes that occurred in Egypt, 12, Oct., 1992 and 22, Nov., 1995, caused large damage. These earthquakes were felt in a wide area of Egypt. A large damage was caused by Oct. 12, 1992 earthquake although the Nov. 1995 earthquake had a large magnitude.

For Oct., 1992 earthquake, the maximum damage was reported from Cairo, El-Giza and El-Faiyum, south Nile Delta, and other places that are near to the epicenter, where for Nov., 1995 earthquake, that located in Gulf of Aqaba, its damage constrained in the south of Sinai particularly Nuoebaa city which is nearest to the epicenter. This contrast in damage indicates the important effect of the local geology that must be taken in the consideration for engineering design and construction.

Table (I) shows the destructive earthquakes in Egypt. In the table, Io is the maximum observed intensity and I is the observed intensity at a particular place. Intensities are in MSK scale and magnitudes are m_b (Maamoun et al., 1984)

Data source (Country report)

1.      Name: Sayed Shaaban Refaie Moustafa

2.      Organization: Assistant Researcher, National Reseach Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics

3.      Course: 2000-2001S

4.      Title: THE NATIONAL EGYPTIAN SEISMOLOGICAL NETWORK AND RECENT EARTHQUAKE ACTIVITIES.