A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the Greek island of Crete early Thursday and was felt across the Aegean Sea, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or significant damage.
The powerful quake occurred some 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the island, according to the Geodynamics Institute of Athens, at a depth of 37 kilometers (23 miles) beneath the seabed, AP reports.
A central road in the Cretan port city of Iraklio was cordoned off after chunks of cracked plaster from a damaged and abandoned building crashed to the ground.
“Fortunately, initial reports indicate that, due to the earthquake’s significant depth, there has been no major damage,” Civil Protection Minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis told reporters outside Athens before traveling to Crete.
The shock was felt extensively across islands throughout the Aegean Sea. Rescue crews were sent to the island as a precaution, officials said.
Earthquake and Planning Protection Organization director Efthymios Lekkas noted that deeper earthquakes typically cause less surface damage.
The earthquake was nevertheless felt by residents in several cities across Israel, local media reported, with Israeli experts warning that the region is overdue for a major tremor. Several Israeli officials have claimed that the country remains woefully unprepared, noting that 93% of at-risk buildings in northern Israel would collapse if such a major earthquake were to occur.
Greece sits on major fault lines and experiences frequent seismic activity. The region, popular with tourists, has been shaken by multiple earthquakes in the last few months, with several thousand low-magnitude tremors recorded since late January among the Cyclades group of islands in the Aegean Sea.
According to experts, Thursday’s 6.1-magnitude earthquake has been the largest such tremor in the region since records began in 1961.