Greece, two tremors off the coast of Crete

Two earthquakes measuring 3.5 degrees on the Richter scale were registered early on Monday off the Greek island of Crete, reportedly causing no damage to people or things. The epicenter of the first tremor, which started at 1:15am local time (00:15 GMT), was 53 kms south of the port city of Chania, according to Euromediterranean Institute seismographers. The second quake, which occurred at 4:40am local time (3:30am GMT), had its epicenter 84 kms off the south-west part of the island, according to seismographers from Crete's Natural Disasters Institute. These follow on a 4.8 Richter-scale magnitude quake registered south-west of Crete on Friday, and a bigger, 5.3 magnitude quake on September 12. Lying on a major fault, Greece is Europe's most seismic country, with more than half of the continent's earthquakes taking place in its territory.