A magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck off the Greek Island of Crete on Thursday morning, the US Geological Survey said.

According to the USGS, the quake occurred at a depth of 68.9 kilometres, with its epicentre located about 58 kilometres northeast of the small town of Eloúnda.

People ran into the streets out of fear, Alexis Kalokairinos, Mayor of the Cretan City of Heraklion, told the news channel ERTNews.

An old building in the city centre was damaged, and school buildings were being inspected for damage as a precaution.

Residents told Greek media that the quake felt unusually long.

The perceived duration of earthquakes, however, is not something officially recorded by monitoring agencies.

A video published by the news portal Cretapost showed how the island shook, triggering car and home alarm systems.

According to the Greek newspaper To Proto Thema, the quake was also felt strongly on the Peloponnese peninsula, the Cyclades, and even Cyprus.

Thanasis Ganas, head of research at the Geodynamic Institute of Athens, gave the all-clear, saying he expected hardly any aftershocks.

As a precaution, the Greek disaster management authority issued a tsunami warning, sending alerts via SMS to people in the affected region.

However, no tsunami occurred.

The tremor comes just days after a series of smaller quakes shook the northern part of Euboea, Greece’s second-largest island.

Within 24 hours, several earthquakes measuring up to 4.7 rattled the region, with tremors felt as far away as Athens, roughly 130 kilometres to the south.

According to local media reports, more than 50 homes were damaged. 

(dpa/NAN)