Shallow 5.0 magnitude earthquake strikes sea floor of eastern Mediterranean Sea

October 20, 2012 – EGYPT – A 5.3 (5.0 USGS) magnitude earthquake hit Alexandria early on Friday morning. Hatem Oada, head of the National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research, said in a statement to the state-run MENA news agency that regional seismic networks indicate the tremor hit at 5:35 am, Cairo time. No damages or injuries have been reported. The epicenter of the quake was in the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Delta. This region is not typically seismically active, Oada said. –Egypt Independent