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.

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.

Greece has declared a state of emergency on Santorini after hundreds of undersea earthquakes shook the resort island for nearly a week.

The threat of a more major earthquake seems to have subsided on the most visited of the Greek islands but experts disagree on the origin of the tremors that have caused 11,000 of the 15,000 permanent residents to flee.

Thousands of locals and travelers have evacuated the Greek island of Santorini amidst a spike in seismic activity.

Hundreds more people were expected to leave Greece's Santorini island on Wednesday as tremors shook the popular summer tourist destination for a sixth day.

Residents and visitors have been advised to avoid large indoor gatherings and areas where rock slides could occur. View on euronews

The Greek island of Santorini was struck by the latest in a string of earthquakes Tuesday, this time a 4.8 temblor. The government said it will backstop the island destination's tourist industry.

The latest of hundreds of earthquakes have rattled the volcanic Greek island of Santorini after the strongest one so far with magnitude 5.3