A strong 5.1 magnitude earthquake has jolted the Greek capital of Athens on Friday.
There were no major damages or serious injuries reported but several aftershocks have been felt and two buildings have collapsed, according to officials.
The quake had an epicentre about 22 km north-west of Athens, the BBC reported.
Stelios Petsas, Greek government spokesman said that temporary problems in telecommunications and power cuts have been restored a few hours later.
According to estimates in the first minutes after the quake, 20,000 telephone calls per second were made, as people were trying to contact relatives and friends to make sure they were safe, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
Nikos Hardalias, General Secretary of Civil Protection said, “There is no cause for alarm. The city withstood the test and will withstand it in the future,” after a meeting at the Fire Brigade’s headquarters.
“The state mechanism will remain on alert for at least 48 hours after the tremor”, he added.
The quake was also felt in the southern region of Peloponnese.
Seismologists said that the earthquake was around 13 km from the surface.
The earthquake is the first to hit the Greek capital since September 1999 and experts said it was very close to the same epicentre, at Mt Parnitha.
