KARPATHOS, Greece – An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale shook the Eastern Dodecanese islands at 13:24 on Thursday, with an epicentre located in the sea some 57 km east of the Aegean island of Karpathos, the Geodynamics Institute of the Athens National Observatory reported.

The quake was felt on the islands of Rhodes, Kasos and Karpathos.

The president of Earthquake Planning and Protection Organisation Professor Efthymios Lekkas said that the seismic activity in the specific area was continuing but the fact that the epicentre was 50 nautical miles from Kasos was encouraging. As he said the focal depth of the tremor was 10km and is not in any way related to Turkey.