A moderate but shallow 4.4-magnitude quake jolted Athens on Monday evening, the national observatory and experts said.

The quake had a depth of just five kilometres (3.1 miles) and an epicentre 24 kilometres northeast of the Greek capital. It was followed by weaker aftershocks, the observatory said.

"The 4.4-magnitude earthquake was felt across the capital and as far as Lamia and Corinth," Efthymios Lekkas, head of Greece's state earthquake planning and protection organisation told state television ERT.

"Residents should not worry, we are not expecting something bigger," he said.

The national observatory had initially given a 4.2 magnitude for the quake.

Lekkas said the area of the epicentre was characterised by "small faults that don't have the ability to cause something greater."

There was no immediate report of damage or injuries.

In July, a 6.7-magnitude quake killed two people and injured hundreds on the tourist island of Kos and across the Aegean Sea in the Turkish resort of Bodrum.

Greece and Turkey sit on significant fault lines and have been regularly hit by earthquakes in recent years.

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