April 857 Earthquake: Egypt
An earthquake struck Egypt in April 857.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- April 857
- Place
- Egypt
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Country
- Egypt
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100)
- Houses damaged
- Some (about 51 to 100)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
April 857, Dhu'l-Hijja 242. A damaging earthquake occurred in Egypt. The shock was widely felt, shaking walls of mosques and destroying mosques and houses. There are no further details of this event, although al-Suyuti refers to a meteorite fall in Egypt at this time. These events in Egypt are clearly to be distinguished from the large earthquake sequence in Damghan, north Iran, earlier in 242/856 and from the landslides reported in the Yemen. (reference #3845)
More
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 8179.