PAPHOS, Cyprus — A 6.6-magnitude quake hit
off the west coast of
Cyprus early Tuesday, the
US Geological Survey said, but
there were no reports of casualties or structural damage.
اضافة اعلان
The strong and relatively shallow quake at 1:07am
GMT was centered 48km west-northwest of the town of Polis on the Mediterranean
island, the USGS said.
The tremor was felt across Cyprus and around the
region with reports from as far away as Turkey, Israel, and Lebanon, according
to the USGS.
It shook buildings in the capital Nicosia, 130km
away, where some residents went out into the streets.
“It was frightening. The whole building was shaking
endlessly,” one Nicosia resident told AFP. “I thought it would never end.”
Cyprus police told AFP there were no reports of
injuries or serious structural damage from the quake, but it woke people across
the island.
“It was a very strong earthquake,” said Marinos
Lambrou, the mayor of Pegeia, a coastal town close to the epicenter. “We are
not used to such earthquakes.
“The residents were scared, everyone woke up and
they were frightened. We hope that there will be no aftershocks. Fortunately
there was no damage, the situation is safe and we didn’t register any wounded.”
Further away, in Limassol, Carol Bailey, a
61-year-old French teacher, said: “We were in bed and it woke us up — it really
went on for a long time.”
She said friends
who live farther west told her it shook their building and set the lights
swinging, while the inside of their fireplace “was making a noise like a horror
film”.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre measured the
tremor at 6.5 magnitude at a depth of 51km.
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