Quake off Greece’s Karpathos shakes eastern Mediterranean

An earthquake struck off the Greek island of Karpathos early on Tuesday, shaking towns and cities across the eastern Mediterranean, witnesses and media said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage, however.

“Really felt that one… Lasted for 30 seconds,” a witness in Lindos, Rhodes, said in a posting on the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre’s website.

Karpathos mayor Yiannis Nisyrios told kathimerini.gr that no injuries or damages have been recorded to buildings and houses and that municipal services continue to function normally.

The tremor, whose magnitude the US Geological Survey measured at 6.0 and depth at 37.8km (23.5 miles), was also felt on several other Greek islands including Rhodes, Crete and Santorini, state TV said.

It also shook the Cypriot capital Nicosia, Beirut, Cairo and other cities in Egypt, parts of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the region around southern Turkey’s Antalya, Reuters witnesses said.

Two powerful quakes rattled Crete in recent weeks, killing one person and damaging buildings.

A Greek seismologist said Tuesday’s quake came from a different African fault and no aftershocks were expected.

[Reuters, Kathimerini]