The island of Crete was rocked for the second time in two week by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale.

The president of the Organisation for Anti-Seismic Planning and Protection (OASP), Efthimios Lekkas, expressed the opinion that the temblor that occurred at 12:24 south of Ierapetra is most likely the main one but that one must monitor the meta-seismic activity over the next 48 hours to confirm that.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries, but thousands hit the streets from their homes and offices as the earthquake struck with great intensity.

The quake was reportedly felt as far away as Cyprus.

Lekkas appeared certain that today’s quake is not connected with the 5.8 on the Richter scale quake that caused widespread destruction in Arkalohori, Crete, two weeks ago, as it emanated from a different seismic centre.

Gerasimos Houliaras, the head of research at Greece’s Geodynamic institute expressed a similar view but noted that it is quite possible that today’s quake will be followed by one of the same magnitude or slightly smaller.

The civil defence ministry has sent teams to offer emergency assistance to police and firemen and the Coast Guard who are responding to the situation.

There were reports of damages in Sitia as well as of rockslides.

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