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Electricity in the main city, also called Zante, was down while fire departments reported damage to the road network caused by landslides.
FILE: A seismograph takes the readings of an earthquake. Image: AFP
ATHENS – A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Greece on Friday and was felt intensely in the tourist island of Zante, said monitoring agencies.
Electricity in the main city, also called Zante, was down while fire departments reported damage to the road network caused by landslides.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), it touched the southern part of the island, also known as Zakynthos, in the Ionian Sea.
"According to the first reports, the houses were not damaged," a spokesman for the fire department told AFP.
A 12th century Byzantine monument on a small island near Zante was badly damaged, local media reported.
The earthquake was also felt on mainland Greece, especially in the city of Pyrgos, in the west of the country.
USGS said the earthquake, which struck at a depth of 16.6 km, was preceded by a jolt of 5.0 and followed by a series of small aftershocks.
He said that there was a low probability of victims.
The earthquake observatory in Athens said that the earthquake was felt in Zakynthos, a popular tourist destination with its own international airport.
Greece is located on major fault lines and is regularly affected by earthquakes, but they rarely cause casualties.
However, in July 2017, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake killed two people on the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea, causing considerable damage.
The island of Zante suffered a major earthquake in 1953, killing 6.4, leaving hundreds injured and thousands injured, leaving the island in ruins.
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