Strong earthquake hits central Greece

A powerful earthquake hit central Greece on Friday but there were no immediate reports of any injuries or of serious damage to buildings.

The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences gave a magnitude of 5.7 for the quake.

The Athens Geodynamics Institute said the epicentre of the quake was 16 km (10 miles) south of the town of Elassona in central Greece and that it struck at a depth of 8.5 km.

A strong quake hit the same area last week, damaging hundreds of buildings and forcing many people to leave their homes and to take temporary shelter in tents provided by the authorities.