A mild earthquake measuring 4.7 on the open Richter scale shook Denmark this morning, with concerned members of the public across the country telephoning police and rescue services.

The quake, which the USGS center in the United States said had its epicentre in southern Sweden, was one of the strongest ever to hit Denmark.

There are no reports of casualties or damage although there were reports of people in some high rise buldings rushing outside as windows and cupboards shook and buildings swayed briefly.

According to the USGS center, the epicenter of the earthquake was some 40 kilometers east of the southern Swedish port of Malmo, and 65 kilometers east of the Danish capital Copenhagen.

Although there are a handful of much smaller tremors in the area each year, these are normally registered only by highly sensitive equipment. A tremor of 4.7 on the Richter scale has only been measured in the region once before, in 1985.