A moderately strong earthquake with preliminary magnitude 5.2 struck on Tuesday between the southeastern Aegean Sea islands of Nissyros and Tilos, Greek authorities said.

There were no reports of damage or injury.

Athens University's Geodynamic Institute said the undersea quake struck at 11:28 pm local time and had a depth of 15.8 kilometres.

The earthquake was felt in several nearby islands in Greece's Dodecanese chain.

Earthquakes are very common in Greece, which is one of the worlds most seismically active areas. However, they rarely result in severe damage or deaths. In 1999, a quake near Athens killed 143 people and caused extensive damage to buildings.