A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has struck one of the world's oldest cities, with residents across the ancient city of Cairo in Egypt woken just after 3am to shaking buildings as the earth rocked beneath them.

The epicentre of the earthquake, which struck just after 3am local time, hit just outside the Egyptian capital. The epicentre has been confirmed as being 28 miles north of Suez and 70 miles south-southeast of Port Said, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Initial reports claimed the quake had measured a 5.9, but both the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) and the USGS have revised the scale down to a 5.3 strength quake.

Despite the revision, the quake had an incredibly shallow strike depth of only 6.2 miles into the earth. The shallower the strike zone usually indicates stronger the surface tremors, with locals confirming as much on social media.

It is understood that tremors were felt as far away as in Israel and the Dead Sea area, as per the Jerusalem Post. The earthquake had a magnitude of 5.4 and hit at a depth of 6 miles, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).

One user said: “It’s been a while since I’ve experienced an earthquake this strong. The whole house was shaking.”

A second person described their building as "shaking in an unnatural way", and others called upon God for protection.