Strong quake hits East Mediterranean region, tremor felt in Turkiye, Egypt

A 6.6-magnitude quake has hit off the west coast of Cyprus, the US Geological Survey said but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The strong and relatively shallow quake that struck at 0107 GMT early on Tuesday was centred 48 kilometres west-northwest of the town of Polis on the Mediterranean island, the USGS said.

The tremor was felt across Cyprus and around the region with reports from as far away as Turkiye, Israel, Egypt and Lebanon.

But there was a low likelihood of casualties and damage from the quake, USGS said in a preliminary assessment.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre measured the tremor at 6.5 magnitude at a depth of 51 km.

Turkiye's disaster agency AFAD said the magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck in Mediterranean Sea off southwest coast of Cyprus.

Earthquake-prone zone

Cyprus lies in a secondary earthquake-prone zone, but tremors of such magnitude are uncommon.

The biggest quake in recent years was a magnitude 6.8 in 1996, which killed two people in Paphos along the west coast.

In 1953, a 6.3-magnitude quake killed 40 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, mostly in the Paphos region.