We were all quite surprised at the high rating for yesterday's tremor since it seemed so mild. The explanation is in the depth out at sea. There were only minor damages to nearby islands.

For those who want more details I lifted this article:

http://www.ekathimerini.com/

Greece gets shaken up
‘Very lucky’ to escape serious damage from 6.9 Richter quake.

An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, one of the most powerful ever to strike Greece, was felt yesterday at lunchtime all around the country and as far afield as Israel, causing damage on the islands of Kythera and Crete but, remarkably, no serious injuries or deaths.
The quake struck at 1.34 p.m. as most Greeks were settling down to Sunday lunch. The tremor’s epicenter was about 200 kilometers south of Athens, in the seabed east of Kythera. It lasted some seven seconds and prompted hundreds of people in cities around Greece to leave their apartment blocks because of fears of damaging aftershocks.
“The earthquake happened at a great depth,” said Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos in a hastily arranged press conference. “There has been only limited damage in the area of Kythera.”
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the quake occurred 70 kilometers below the sea, some 30 kilometers east of Kythera.
“We were very lucky this quake happened underwater,” said the head of the institute Giorgos Stavrakakis. “If it had happened on land it would be a mess. The fact that it was deep in the sea saved us.” There were several aftershocks, which did not cause any problems.
The quake was felt in southern Italy, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus and parts of the Balkans.
Greece is one of the most seismically active countries in the world and the last major quake to hit the country was in 1999, when a 5.9 Richter tremor struck Athens killing 143 people and leaving thousands homeless.
Seismologists said yesterday’s earthquake could lead to other tremors but added there was no reason to be alarmed by its magnitude or fearful of bigger quakes to come.