ATHENS, June 8: A strong earthquake measuring 6.5 on the open-ended Richter scale struck the Peloponnese region of Greece on Sunday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 20, authorities said.

The quake was felt throughout the peninsula and as far away as Athens, causing panic in villages and towns in the west and the north of the Peloponnese, when it struck around 3:25 pm (1325 GMT), NET public television reported.

The National Observatory of Athens located the quake 205 kilometres west of the capital near the town of Andravida. Observatory research chief Gerassimos Papadopoulos said the epicentre was about 10 kilometres underground.

A man in his sixties was killed in the village of Kato Achaia when the roof of his house collapsed, firefighters said.

And an 80-year-old woman died of a heart attack when the quake shook her village, Kato Achaia in the northwest of the Peloponnese, a police source said.

More than 20 people were injured, among them four who according to national health service official Panagiotis Eftathiou jumped out of windows. They were rushed to hospitals and were being treated for fractures.

George Stavrakakis of the Athens Observatory’s Geodynamic Institute said the quake was “the biggest recorded in the region” in a long time.

“The quake was terrible. We have not had such a big one even though we’re used to them,” said the mayor of the town of Pyrgos, George Paraskevopoulos.

“It lasted for quite a while and everybody ran from their homes.” Pyrgos’ Agios Nicolaos church suffered serious damage and several buildings in the town centre showed cracks after the quake, he added.

Firefighters said old houses in Pyrgos, Amaliada, surrounding villages and in the port area of Patras were also damaged.

—AFP