Greece shaken by a powerful earthquake but practically unscathed

are seen in the port of Zakynthos Island, Greece, Friday, October 26, 2018. (Source: AP)

A powerful earthquake Of a magnitude of at least 6.4 touched the west of Greece early on Friday, earthquake observers said, causing slight damage but no casualties of a tremor felt up to In Libya.

The Geodynamic Institute of Greece reported a magnitude of 6.4 and placed the quake at 50 km south of the island of Zakynthos. This compares to a figure of 6.8 evaluated by both the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC).

The tremor was felt in Athens, the Greek capital, and even up in Albania, Italy. , Libya and Malta.

The epicenter was in the Ionian Sea, about 130 km southwest of Patras, in the Peloponnese, the USGS said.

He was particularly touched in Zakynthos, also known as Zante, who

Three people were taken to the hospital, two of them slightly injured, a Reuters spokesman told Reuters. 39, civil protection agency of Greece.

According to news websites, a 15th century monastery was damaged. One of them, Zante News Time, displays images of masonry fallen from a building facade and objects dislodged from store shelves.

Power failure and slight damage to the port. from Zakynthos, near the epicenter wou

"We are not facing any particular problems," said Zakynthos Mayor Pavlos Kolokotsas, to the Greek TV channel ERT. "The calm is being restored."

The Italian online news site Il Messaggero said that the quake had been felt hundreds of kilometers away in southern Italy. Firefighters from Calabria, Apulia and Sicily have received thousands of phone calls to get information on the earthquake.

"The energy released, based on the fault line angle, has been deployed to Italy," said Efthymios Lekkas, head of planning for the earthquake. land in Greece. Protection Organization.

Significant damage has been avoided as earthquake-prone Zakynthos has adopted seismic codes in construction, he added. The European earthquake agency EMSC said sea level had risen slightly by about 20 cm (7.87 inches), but the increase could be locally higher.

The earthquake was relatively shallow, according to the USGS, just 14 km away. under the bottom of the sea, which would have amplified the tremors.

He struck at 1:54 (22:04 GMT). Greece straddles two tectonic plates and often suffers earthquakes.

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