Two people have been killed after a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of at least 6.1 hit the western Greek island of Lefkada, sparking landslides and causing extensive damage to roads and buildings.
The quake was felt across western Greece, prompting residents on Lefkada and the nearby Ionian Sea island of Kefalonia to rush out onto the streets. It was also felt in Malta and recorded by the university's Seismic Unit.
The Times of Malta reader Steve Congrave said he felt the tremor in Mellieha at about 8.15m.
"It lasted about five seconds – pretty strong. The shock wave took 3 minutes to arrive here," he said.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the undersea quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 and occurred at 7.10am GMT off Greece's western mainland, 186 miles west of Athens.
The US Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude at 6.5.
Greek authorities are struggling to assess the damage, with their efforts hampered by landslides that blocked Lefkada's narrow, mountainous roads.
Fire and rescue services said an 82-year-old woman was killed in the village of Athani when a wall collapsed on her, while a 69-year-old woman died in another village when a boulder loosened by the earthquake tumbled onto her house.
Four people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
ERT TV said part of the harbour of Vassiliki in the worst-hit south-western part of the island was submerged in the sea. Schools were closed on both Lefkada and Kefalonia following the incident.
Authorities said several houses were badly damaged on Kefalonia and another nearby island, Ithaca.
Aftershocks also hit the area, including one with a 5.2 magnitude more than an hour after the main quake.
Ionian Islands regional governor Theodoros Galiatsatos called on residents to avoid any structures that appeared damaged until authorities could assess their safety.
Earthquakes are common in Greece, which is one of the world's most seismically active areas, though serious injuries and deaths are rare. A severe quake near Athens in 1999 killed 143 people and caused extensive damage throughout the Greek capital.
The Ionian region is particularly seismically active, and new buildings on the area's islands are constructed to strict anti-seismic standards. Kefalonia was struck by a series of strong earthquakes, two of them with magnitudes of around 6, in January 2014, causing damage and minor injuries but no fatalities.
Those quakes awakened memories of catastrophic 1953 quakes that flattened nearly all the island's structures, killing hundreds of people.