Many Maltese woke up in a shudder yesterday morning and some even said they were woken up by their shaking headboard after a tremor hit Malta at around 6.15 am.

The earthquake that hit the South of Greece was felt as a tremor along the east coast of Malta and in South Italy.

President of the Civil Protection Scientific committee, Peter Cordina confirmed this and said that no injuries and damages were reported, even though the Civil Protection headquarters was bombarded by calls from people mostly living in the eastern region of the island. He said that most of the calls received were from Rabat, St Paul’s bay, St Julian’s and Sliema.

The Malta Independent Daily spoke to the curator at the Physics department’s seismic laboratory, Pauline Galea who confirmed that the earthquake hit the South of Greece, reaching a measurement of 6.1 on the Richter Scale.

“I am pleased to say that the apparatus we have at the physics department was very precise and that the data recorded matched that of foreign networks,” Dr Galea said.

She said that the focus of the quake hit the earth a 100 km below the surface, and that this depth is not enough either to generate tsunamis or cause extensive damage.

“Usually an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7 on the Richter Scale causes this kind of damage. 6.1 is not so alarming,” she said.

“Historically, it is documented that Malta has suffered damage from Earthquakes that hit Greece or Southern Italy in the past.”

“We have a website at the physics department where people can go onto and fill in a questionnaire on what they felt and what they witnessed during the tremor. This is very useful for seismologists as we can use these testimonials as part of our research,” she said.

The Earthquake rattled houses in South Greece, especially those in the Southern town of Leonidio where mayor, Dimitris Tsigounis said that there were no reports of serious damage and that the only complaints that came in were that plaster came loose in several old houses.

Even though data is still being gathered, Athens Institute seismologist Giorgos Drakatos said that there is no cause for particular concern.

The last earthquake to hit the Maltese islands measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale and located 120 km off the north-eastern Maltese coast, occurred at around 5.37 am on 24 November ,2006 and was felt in various parts of Malta