A new earthquake struck central Greece near the city of Larissa on Thursday, the same region where an even stronger quake left 11 people injured the day before, the Athens seismological observatory said.
The earthquake, which according to the US Geological Survey was 5.6 degrees, caused rocks to fall near the Orthodox monasteries of Meteora, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kalabaka, the emergency services said.
No injuries were immediately reported from the new earthquake, which was felt 20 kilometers from Elassona, near Larissa, the observatory said.
But rescue services said there were rock falls and further damage to buildings already weakened by the earthquake the day before.
And the state television channel ERT showed images of residents panicking on the streets.
The Athens observatory described the quake as “very strong” and said it occurred at 8:38 pm (1838 GMT), about 16 kilometers from Elassona and 244 kilometers north of Athens.
The head of Greece’s earthquake protection authority, Efthymis Lekkas, told Skai radio that the new earthquake occurred about three miles from the earthquake’s epicenter on Wednesday.
“This new earthquake triggered a second fault located near Wednesday’s, which is rare in Greece,” said Thanassis Ganas, a seismologist at the Athens observatory.
“Normally, when there is a major earthquake like Wednesday’s, only aftershocks occur. It is rare to have a second major earthquake in such a short period,” he also told Skai radio.
Greece is located in several geological faults and is sporadically hit by earthquakes. But they occur mainly at sea and do not cause victims.
In October, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Aegean Sea, between the Greek island of Samos and the city of Izmir, in western Turkey. Two teenagers died on the island of Samos in a building collapse.