A 6,1-magnitude earthquake struck off the Greek islands of Crete and Santorini on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said. JAV geological survey.
The strong earthquake struck 82 kilometers northeast of Crete's capital Heraklion at a depth of 68 kilometers, the USGS said.
The tourist-popular region has been rocked by a series of tremors in recent months, forcing the temporary closure of schools on Santorini and nearby islands. Since late January, thousands of mostly mild earthquakes have been recorded in the Cyclades group of islands southeast of mainland Greece, off the islands of Santorini, Amorgos, Ios and Anafi. The seismic swarm has caused no casualties or major damage.
Residents told Greek media that the tremors were felt for an unusually long time. According to the Greek newspaper To Proto Thema, it was strongly felt in the Peloponnese peninsula, the Cyclades and even as far away as Cyprus.
As a precaution, the Greek disaster management authority issued a tsunami warning and sent SMS alerts to people in the affected region. However, there was no tsunami.
The tremors followed a series of smaller earthquakes that shook the northern island of Euboea, Greece's second largest. Several quakes, measuring up to 4,7 in magnitude, have rocked the region in the past 130 hours and were felt in the capital Athens, about 50 kilometres (XNUMX miles) to the south. Local media reported that more than XNUMX homes were damaged.
Earthquakes are common in the Aegean Sea, which lies at the junction of the African and Anatolian tectonic plates, but the region has not experienced an event of this magnitude since records began in 1964, experts said.
Viljama Sudikiene (AFP)
