A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck southern Greece in the Aegean Sea early Wednesday morning, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), and it was felt as far away as Cairo, the AFP reports.
The earthquake’s epicentre was located 15 kilometres off the Greek island of Kasos and was strongly felt on the islands of Kos, Rhodes, the Dodecanese archipelago, as well as in Crete, according to the Greek news agency ANA and public television channel ERT.
Despite the tremor, there have been no reports of casualties or damage, but a tsunami risk alert was sent to residents on the islands of Rhodes, Karpathos, and Kasos.
The shock was felt in Cairo too, as verified by the AFP, though Egyptian authorities have not reported any casualties at this time.
Greece’s Athens Observatory Geodynamic Institute, the national authority on seismic measurement, reported a magnitude of 5.9, located over 420 km southeast of Athens.
According to the USGS, the earthquake occurred at a depth of 78 kilometres at approximately 01:51 local time (00:51 Belgian time).
Efthymios Lekkas, the president of the Organisation for Earthquake Planning and Protection (OASP), reassured the public on Wednesday morning.
“I believe this earthquake will not be followed by a significant sequence of aftershocks, nor should it be considered a precursor to a larger quake,” he stated on ERT, highlighting the quake’s significant depth.
“There will therefore be no pre-seismic or post-seismic sequence,” he added.
Lekkas also mentioned that this tremor is unrelated to the repeated earthquakes recorded during the winter on the Greek island of Santorini, in the Cyclades archipelago.
