An Earthquake of magnitude 6.2 on the Richter scale occurred in the sea off Crete on Friday afternoon. The tremor was strongly felt in Heraklion and other areas of Crete, in the island of Casos and Milos in the south of the Aegean Sea, in Pelononnese, but also in some areas of areas far away Athens, Greek media report.
Twitter users report that although the tremor was not felt in Chania, it was felt in Cairo, Egypt and Malta!
The earthquake occurred at 4:29 pm local time at the sea, 49 km northwest off the island of Casos and 391 km southeast from Greek capital Athens.
Other sources report, the epicenter was 122 km ENE of Heraklion, Crete in dept 0f 78 km.
The residents of Crete rushed in panic out of homes and work places and are still outside trying to recover form the shock. Accoridng to locals the tremor lasted more than 30 seconds.
There have been no immediate reports of damages or human injuries.
We felt the quake for about 3 – 4 seconds in Beer Sheva, Israel.
thanks for the info, Naomi!
the tremor _was_ felt in Chania. (in Stalos it for sure was)
oh thanks – some in Chania didn’t feel it lol