ATHENS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A strong earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale jolted western Greece in the early hours of Saturday.

Three people were slightly injured and a still unclear number of houses have been damaged, local media reported.

The tremor's epicenter was located at 14 km east-northeast of Parga town at a depth of 10 km, scientists from Athens Geodynamic Institute said.

It was felt in a large part of western Greece and the people alarmed exited their homes in the dark.

According to initial information by local authorities, some old houses have collapsed, and many residences have sustained extensive damage. An assessment of the situation is underway.

There have also been landslides on the rural road network and the affected area had a brief power cut with electricity being restored by sunset, AMNA reported.

Greek experts were monitoring the seismic activity, as several aftershocks have followed.

In a post on Facebook, Gerasimos Chouliaras, research chief at the Athens Geodynamic Institute, said that he doesn't foresee this progressing to a bigger quake at the moment.

"We are monitoring the phenomenon and for the time being we are being cautious," said Efthymios Lekkas, head of Greece's Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, noting that the quake links to a well-known rift that resulted in a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in 1895. Enditem

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