Fears tsunami could hit Greece after powerful earthquake hits Crete

Tremors were felt strongly across the Greek islands of Crete and Rhodes (Picture: Getty)

A tsunami warning has been issued off the coast of Greece following an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale.

Powerful tremors rocked the island of Crete and were felt as far away as Cyprus, Egypt, Syria and Israel in the early hours of this morning.

They were felt strongly across the islands of Crete and Rhodes, prompting authorities to issue a temporary tsunami warning.

An alert from Greek emergency services was issues at 1.36am, stating: ‘A magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurred 48km SE of Kasos.

‘Risk of possible Tsunami in your area. Immediately move away from the coast. Follow the instructions of the Local Authorities.’

The earthquake was at a depth of 22 miles and was registered near the island of Karpathos in the Mediterranean Sea, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said.

A map showing where the earthquake was detected (Picture: Metro)

No serious property damage has been reported, but people have been toldto stay on alert.

The earthquake also comes at the beginning of the summer party season in Greece during which more than eight million tourists travel to Crete and Rhodes.

Seismologist Efthymis Lekkas on Wednesday downplayed the significance of the tremors, stressing this was an isolated incident.

He told broadcaster ERT: ‘There is neither a notable foreshock sequence nor a significant series of aftershocks – these types of quakes typically occur as single events.’

Asked about a possible link to recent seismic activity on the island of Santorini or the most recent earthquake in Turkey, Lekkas dismissed any connection.

He said: ‘There is absolutely no link to the seismic events in Santorini – the geotectonic context is entirely different – and there is no connection whatsoever to the earthquake in Turkey.’

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