Scientists say several thousand earthquakes detected near Greece’s island of Santorini

ATHENS — Scientists have detected several thousand earthquakes, the vast majority of them with small magnitudes, in just over two weeks near Greece’s volcanic island of Santorini, the University of Athens’ crisis management committee said Tuesday, adding that a larger quake cannot be ruled out.

The highly unusual barrage of earthquakes which began in late January has alarmed authorities. They have declared a state of emergency on Santorini, one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations, deploying rescue crews and putting coast guard and navy vessels on standby.

Thousands of residents and visitors have left the island, while schools on Santorini and nearby islands have been ordered to remain closed for the week.

Extra doctors and paramedics have been sent to Santorini’s hospital, while six disaster medicine teams are on standby. Medical staff practiced an evacuation drill Tuesday, running out of the building while wheeling stretchers with people posing as patients.

Scientists have been closely monitoring the earthquake swarm occurring between the islands of Santorini and Amorgos, and the two volcanoes in the area. They say it’s unclear whether the dozens of quakes each day — ranging from magnitude 3 to roughly 5 or just above — are a precursor to a significantly larger, main earthquake or will continue with frequent lower magnitude quakes for several weeks or months.

Overall, about 12,000 earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 1 have been registered since Jan. 26, with 109 on Monday alone, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens’ crisis management committee said in a statement Tuesday.

Thirteen of Monday’s quakes registered magnitudes greater than 4, while several more with similar magnitudes struck on Tuesday. The largest so far, with a magnitude 5.2, struck on Monday night and was followed about two hours later by another with magnitude 5.

“The possibility of a main earthquake following cannot be ruled out,” the statement said.

Scientists were deploying more surveying equipment in the area Tuesday to monitor the situation, the University of Athens said, while seismologists and volcanologists were to meet with government officials Tuesday evening as part of regular discussions of the situation.

Although Greece lies in a highly seismically active part of the world and earthquakes are frequent, it is very rare for any part of the country to experience such an intense barrage of earthquakes for such an extended period of time.

Santorini took its present crescent shape following a massive volcanic eruption in antiquity — one of the largest known eruptions in human history. Now, millions of visitors each year see its dramatic scenery of whitewashed houses and blue-domed churches clinging to the rim of the caldera, the flooded crater left behind by a volcano that erupted and then collapsed.

Becatoros writes for the Associated Press.