Thousands evacuate Santorini after earthquakes shake Greek island

Thousands of residents are fleeing the Greek island of Santorini amid a wave of seismic activity.

Some 6,000 people have left the island by ferry since Sunday, according to local media, with emergency flights scheduled to leave on Tuesday.

More than 300 earthquakes have been recorded in the past 48 hours near the island – and some experts say tremors may continue for weeks. Authorities have closed schools for the entire week and warned against large indoor gatherings, but Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has urged calm.

Santorini is a popular tourist destination known for its whitewashed buildings, but most of those leaving are locals, as February is outside the peak tourist season.

Several tremors, measuring up to magnitude 4.7, were recorded north-east of Santorini early on Tuesday.

Though no major damage has been reported so far, emergency measures are being taken as a precaution.

Hundreds of people queued at a port in the early hours of Tuesday morning to board a ferry leaving for the mainland.

“Everything is closed. No-one works now. The whole island has emptied,” an 18-year-old local resident told Reuters news agency before boarding the vessel.

In addition to 6,000 people who have left the island by ferry since Sunday, around 2,500 to 2,700 passengers will have flown from Santorini to Athens via plane on Monday and Tuesday, according to Aegean Airlines.

The carrier said it had added three emergency flights to its schedule, with space for hundreds of passengers, following a request from the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection.

Santorini is a small island with a population of just 15,500. It welcomes millions of tourists each year.

Kostas Sakavaras, a tour guide who has lived on Santorini for 18 years, left the island with his wife and children on Monday.

“We considered it’s a better choice to come to the mainland as a precaution,” he told BBC News.

“Nothing has been falling, or anything like that,” he said, adding that the worst part had been the sound. “That’s the most scary part of it,” said Mr Sakavaras, who plans to return home once schools reopen.

Schools are scheduled to stay closed on the island until Friday. Authorities have also warned people to avoid certain areas of the island and empty their swimming pools.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis said on Monday that Greece was working to manage “a very intense geological phenomenon”.

Seismologists consider the recent tremors to be minor, but preventive measures have been put in place in case a larger quake occurs.

Emergency services have warned residents to leave the areas of Ammoudi, Armeni and the Old Port of Fira due to landslides.

The South Aegean Regional Fire Department has been placed on general alert and rescue teams have been dispatched, with crews standing watch by large yellow medical tents on the island.

Santorini is on what is known as the Hellenic Volcanic Arc – a chain of islands created by volcanoes – but the last major eruption was in the 1950s.

Greek authorities said that the recent tremors were related to tectonic plate movements instead of volcanic activity.