A magnitude 5.1 earthquake rocked the area of Halkidiki, near Thessaloniki, Greece at 04:27:54.70 UTC and 7.27 a.m. local time on Friday. The epicenter was located in the undersea region west of the Athos peninsula, 110 km east-southeast of Thessaloniki.

Five minutes earlier, a magnitude 4.1 tremor was felt, whereas more post-seismic activity was felt at 7.33 a.m.

No damages or injuries have been reported with scientists stating that the quake was superficial with a focal depth of 24 km. Nonetheless, seismologists warn the locals to expect aftershocks. These can be less violent but strong enough to do additional damage to weakened structures in the first hours, days, weeks or even months after the quake. They warn people in the zone to look for and extinguish small fires that are a common hazard after an earthquake and warn of care when driving as well as to anticipate traffic light outages.