The swarm of earthquakes shaking Santorini prompts Greece to declare an emergency

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s government declared a state of emergency on Santorini on Thursday after hundreds of undersea earthquakes shook the resort island for nearly a week.

The ministry of civil protection’s announcement will provide authorities faster access to state resources. It follows a magnitude 5.2 tremor –- the most powerful recorded since activity started on Jan. 31 –- that struck late Wednesday.

Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis confirmed that multiple emergency services were already mobilized to support the island.

“Fire departments, police, coast guard, armed forces, and emergency medical services have immediately reinforced Santorini and surrounding islands with additional personnel and specialized equipment,” he told reporters.

Despite causing minimal damage, the earthquake activity has prompted an exodus of thousands of residents and seasonal workers, mostly evacuating to the Greek mainland by ferry.

Experts say the seismic activity is unrelated to volcanic activity in the Aegean Sea, but are still unable to say whether the swarm could lead up to a more powerful earthquake.

“We are not yet in a position to say that we are seeing any evidence that would lead to the sequence slowly coming to a conclusion,” Vassilis K. Karastathis, a seismologist and director of research at National Observatory of Athens, told reporters. “We are still in the middle of the road, we haven’t seen any easing, any sign that it’s heading towards a regression.”

The earthquake epicenters are concentrated in a growing cluster between the islands of Santorini, Anafi, Amorgos, and Ios. Experts view the underwater location as a mitigating factor, noting that it significantly reduces the potential for widespread damage compared to land-based seismic events.

On Santorini, municipal crews cordoned off some areas on the island’s renowned cliff top towns that were considered vulnerable to potential rock slides. Crews of engineers also inspected school buildings that have remained closed all week.

The island’s Orthodox church has urged residents to assist each other during a time of “great anxiety.”

“Island life, intensely communal, has taught us to be close to one another – in the happy, the sad and the difficult times,” the Metropolitan Bishop Amphilochios of Thira, Amorgos and Isles, said in an online message.

“This is how we will face the present condition while it lasts," he added. "And by God’s grace we will strengthen ourselves on the path of progress and creation for the good of our islands and their blessed inhabitants, our brothers and sisters.”