ATHENS, Greece — An undersea 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 temblor sent shivers across Israel with residents in Haifa, Jerusalem, Holon, and Beersheba among those who said they felt it, the Ynet outlet reported.
It came after last week residents of numerous areas around Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, reported feeling an earthquake shortly after a 6.3 magnitude quake struck Crete.
Thursday’s 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.
Regional government official Giorgos Tsapakos told state-run television that “there are no reports of injuries or any serious damage” following initial assessments of the affected areas.
The shock was felt extensively across islands throughout the Aegean Sea.
Earthquake and Planning Protection Organization director Efthymios Lekkas noted that deeper earthquakes typically cause less surface damage.
The region popular with tourists has been rattled by multiple tremors in recent months, prompting schools in Santorini and neighbouring islands to close temporarily.
Thousands of earthquakes, mainly of low magnitude, were recorded from late January between the islands of Santorini, Amorgos, Ios and Anafi in the Cyclades group southeast of the Greek mainland.
Greece sits on major fault lines and experiences frequent seismic activity. Located where the African and Anatolian tectonic plates converge, the Aegean Sea is often hit by quakes.
But the region had not experienced a phenomenon of such magnitude since records began in 1964, experts said.
Israeli experts have long been warning that the region is overdue for a major tremor and that the country is woefully unprepared.
In September 2023, after an earthquake killed over 2,000 people in Morocco, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned that Israel has failed in its efforts to prepare for a major quake.
He noted a report he issued in March that found 93 percent of at-risk buildings in northern Israel would collapse if a strong earthquake hits, and that 30% of earmarked schools had yet to be renovated.
The last major earthquake to hit the region was in 1927 — a 6.2-magnitude tremor that killed 500 people and injured 700 — and seismologists estimate that such earthquakes occur in the area approximately once every 100 years.
Tel Aviv University researchers published a study in 2020 warning that such an earthquake, large enough to cause hundreds of fatalities, will likely hit the country in the coming years.