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.

A state of emergency has been declred in Santorini, a volcanic island and popular tourist destination in Greece, as an 'earthquake swarm' that began earlier this month continues. Since 31 January, more than 800 tremors with a magnitude of three and above have been recorded.

It welcomes around 3 million visitors per year, but between January 26 and February 8, the Seismology Laboratory of the University of Athens has registered a staggering 12,800 earthquakes in the Santorini-Amorgos zone, the strongest of these was last night at a magnitude of 5.3.