Strong earthquake hits Crete; no damage reported

A 5.1-magnitude tremor has hit the south coast of the island of Crete near the town of Moires, the Athens-based Institute of Geodynamics has announced.

The earthquake occurred at 9.59 p.m. local time (1859 GMT) Thursday at a depth of 8.9 kilometers, the Institute announced.

A day earlier, a 4.2-maginitude tremor had occurred in the same area.

The mayor of Faistos, Grigoris Nikolidakis, told web site Cretalive that “locals have taken to the streets, but, at the moment, no damage has been registered.”

Earthquakes of similar magnitude are far from rare in Greece, which lies in a region where the African plate is pushing the Eurasian plate to the north.

Source: ekathimerini.com