ATHENS, May 22 (Xinhua) - Authorities on the Greek island of Crete were on high alert after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted the area on Thursday, although no injuries or serious material damage have been reported so far, the Fire Service said.
However, sections of the provincial road network have been closed due to minor landslides, while parts of old houses have collapsed in the port city of Heraklion. Teams of experts are assessing the safety of the buildings, local officials told the Greek national broadcaster ERT.
The epicenter of the tremor, which was felt as far away as Athens, was located about 60 km off the coast of the Lasithi region at a depth of approximately 37 km, according to the National Observatory of Athens.
A series of aftershocks followed, with Greek seismologists calling for caution and calm. "Only a few aftershocks are expected, and not a larger quake," Thanasis Ganas, research director at the National Observatory of Athens, told ERT.
"There is no connection between this tremor and the recent earthquakes in Santorini (north of Crete in the Aegean Sea)," said Efthymios Lekkas, president of Greece's Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization.
In January and February of this year, nearly 20,000 tremors, measuring up to 5.1 magnitude, hit the sea off the volcanic Santorini island. This rare phenomenon did not cause any casualties or major damage. ■