The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck at Tuesday afternoon 125 kilometres south-southwest of western Crete’s city of Chania and 395 kilometres south of the Greek capital, Athens.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre gave the preliminary magnitude as 5.2. Magnitudes given by different seismological centres often vary.
Greece is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, but most quakes are of small magnitude and rarely cause severe damage or injuries.
In 2008, a 6.5-magnitude quake near western city of Patras killed two people and injured more than 200.