A strong earthquake rattled the island of Cephalonia in western Greece early today, the second tremor of this scale to hit the region in just over a week.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The tremor measured 5.7 in magnitude and struck at 4.08am, according to the Athens Geodynamic Institute. The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude was 6.1.

Last week, a quake measuring 5.8 rocked the island, sending panicked residents fleeing from their homes and damaging some buildings.

"All evidence shows that this was the strongest quake to follow the main one, which struck last week," a senior official at the institute told Greek Skai TV.

The tremor was picked up in the University of Malta's monitoring centre at Wied Dalam.

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