ATHENS: A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck off the Greek island of Euboea early Tuesday and was strongly felt in Athens according to authorities.
The quake hit at 00:30 local time (2130 GMT) offshore 45 kilometres northeast of the Greek capital as reported by the Institute of Geodynamics at the National Observatory of Athens.
The epicentre was located four kilometres off the seaside resort of Nea Styra in the southwest of Euboea, which is Greece’s second-largest island.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage following the seismic event.
The mayor of the nearby city of Marathon, Stergios Tsirkas, described the quake as “very intense” during comments on ERT television.
This follows a magnitude 6.1 earthquake that struck off the Greek island of Crete in May, which was felt as far as Egypt and in the Greek capital.
The island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea experienced exceptional seismic activity in January and February, causing thousands of residents to temporarily flee.
Greece regularly experiences earthquakes due to its location on several faults in the southeastern Mediterranean region.
The last deadly quake occurred in October 2020 on the island of Samos with a magnitude of seven, killing two people in Samos and over 100 in the Turkish port city of Izmir. – AFP
