The Greek island of Crete has been hit a 6.4-magnitude earthquake, says the US Geological Survey (USGS), with the epicentre near the eastern tip.

Some buildings were damaged, and thousands of people were seen leaving their homes in panic. There are so far no reports of casualties.

Greece's Institute of Geodynamics put the epicentre slightly further east, in the sea, and said it was a 6.3 quake.

Tremors were felt across several of the Dodecanese islands.

Crete was hit last month by a 5.8-magnitude quake, which killed one and caused damage.

The USGS said the epicentre of Tuesday's earthquake at 09:24 GMT was Crete's eastern village of Palekastro. The USGS placed the tremor at a depth of 10km (6 miles), which is fairly shallow and therefore liable to cause more damage.

The Institute of Geodynamics put the epicentre 32km south-east of the eastern town of Zakros and said it was slightly deeper.

Several aftershocks have been reported.

The small church of Agios Nikolaos, in the village of Xerokampos, was brought down in the latest tremor.

There have also been reports of rockslides across the island.

Greece is hit from time to time by earthquakes as it lies on a network of geological faultlines.