Yesterday, the largest earthquake to strike Egypt in 31 years occurred. Registering in as a M5.6, this earthquake was felt by tens of millions of people, although it thankfully caused no damage. But, why did it strike in the first place? Today's video will discuss the region geology, why the earthquake occurred, and the very slow rifting a failed rift is actively producing. Thumbnail Photo Credit: Google Earth, Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, Image Landsat / Copernicus. This image was overlaid with text, and then overlaid with GeologyHub made graphics (the image border & the GeologyHub logo). A special thanks to the EarthquakeSim YouTube channel for granting me permission to use clips of his footage! Video Sources from the EarthquakeSim YouTube channel: [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy_4G7ig5Gw Subscribe to EarthquakeSim at: https://www.youtube.com/@EarthquakeSim If you would like to support this channel, consider using one of the following links: (Patreon: http://patreon.com/geologyhub) (YouTube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeGh5VML5XPr5jYnzh3J6g/join) (Gemstone & Mineral Etsy store: http://prospectingarizona.etsy.com) (GeologyHub Merch Etsy store: http://geologyhub.etsy.com) Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers This video is protected under "fair use". If you see an image and/or video which is your own in this video, and/or think my discussion of a scientific paper (and/or discussion/mentioning of the data/information within a scientific paper) does not fall under the fair use doctrine, and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at [email protected] and I will make the necessary changes. Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video's thumbnail image (and this list does not include every license used in this video and/or thumbnail image): Public Domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode CC BY-SA 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode Sources/Citations: [1] U.S. Geological Survey [2] ELGabry, M., Hamed, A., Yoshimura, S. et al. Architectural and geotechnical aspects affecting earthquake resilience for the antique Egyptian Khufu pyramid. Sci Rep 16, 14032 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-49962-6, CC BY 4.0. [3] Rashwan, Mohamed & Sawires, Rashad & Sparacino, Federica & Peláez, José & Palano, Mimmo. (2021). Crustal Strain and Stress Fields in Egypt from Geodetic and Seismological Data. Remote Sensing. 13. 1398. 10.3390/rs13071398. CC BY 4.0. [4] Wikipedia, Gulf of Suez Rift, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Suez_Rift, CC BY-SA 4.0 license. [5] Piroglu, F. and Ozakgul, K.: Site investigation of masonry buildings damaged during the 23 October and 9 November 2011 Van Earthquakes in Turkey, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 689–708, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-689-2013, 2013. CC BY 3.0. [6] Eun Young Lee, Douaa Fathy, Xinxuan Xiang, Darko Spahić, Mohamed S. Ahmed, Esraa Fathi, Mabrouk Sami, Middle Miocene syn-rift sequence on the central Gulf of Suez, Egypt: Depositional environment, diagenesis, and their roles in reservoir quality, Marine and Petroleum Geology, Volume 174, 2025, 107305, ISSN 0264-8172, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2025.107305. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264817225000224), CC BY 4.0. 0:00 Egypt Earthquake 1:24 Prior Earthquakes 2:14 Region Geology 3:51 Gulf of Suez Rift 4:33 Aftershock Discussion