An earthquake rattled with 5.7 on the Richter scale the island of Crete early Wednesday morning causing distress to local residents. The epicenter of the earthquake at 7:08 a.m. was in the sea area 48 km South-West of Arvi in eastern Crete and its focal depth was 42.7 km.
There are no reports of injuries or material damage.
The powerful tremor was particularly felt in the prefectures of Heraklio and Lasithi also in the broader area of the South Aegean Sea like in the Dodecanese and Peloponnese as well in the eastern Mediterranean Sea such as in Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt.
Map of felt reports received so far following the #earthquake M5.7 in Crete, Greece 41 min ago pic.twitter.com/aHuEV0c0TB
— EMSC (@LastQuake) December 29, 2021
Greek seismologists are closely monitoring the phenomenon and according to first estimations no aftershocks are expected.
Head of the Greek Earthquake Planning and Prevention Organization Efthymios Lekkas told cnn.gr that the earthquake is not linked to the fault line of Arkalochori, Heraklio prefecture, that struck with 6.3 R late September.
To local media cretapost, Lekkas said that they do not know if this was a main earthquake and that this will be shown in the collected data and analysis.
He added that there has been a general seismic activity in the area recently and that the tremor on Wednesday morning belongs to the Greek-Libyan arrow.
UPDATE: 5.3R early Wed evening
A new earthquake rattled Crete with 5.3 R ten minutes before 7 o’ clock early Wednesday evening. The epicenter was the same as the 5.7 r in the morning, that is 48 km South-West of Arvi in Heraklio.
Locals reportedly rushed outside their homes and shops in panic.
There are no reports of injuries or material damage.
Speaking to state-broadcaster ERT, seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos said that there have been no aftershocks recorded after the 5.& R in the morning.
