State of emergency declared on Santorini after earthquakes shake island

Greek civil protection authorities have declared a state of emergency on Santorini as natural disaster experts voice mounting fears over the “intense” seismic activity that has rattled the island.

The emergency measures were declared by the island’s town hall hours after seismologists recorded a 5.2-magnitude earthquake – the most powerful tremor to be felt on Santorini since the first of an estimated 7,700 temblors were registered last week.

The measures, under which the army is expected to take a more active role in crisis management, will be in effect until 3 March when the Christian Orthodox nation marks the beginning of Lent.

“It’s what we need to deal with this situation and we requested that it be enforced,” said Santorini’s mayor, Nikos Zorzos.

With experts speaking of a geological phenomenon that could last weeks, fatigued local people continued to leave the island, likening the exodus to “an unofficial mass evacuation”.

Experts are divided as to whether the latest, larger quakes are a sign of worse to come, or an indication that the issue is on the wane. Photograph: Orestis Panagiotou/EPA

More than 12,000 people have fled by boat and plane since the tremors intensified at the weekend, with few tourists now believed to be on the island.

By Thursday Santorini’s main hilltop settlement – the biggest draw on an island that attracted 3.5 million tourists last year – resembled a ghost town, its shops shuttered and its narrow streets tapered off by police fearing more rock slides.

Government officials said the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, would visit the island on Friday in what was described as “a show of solidarity”. Others said the move underscored the seriousness of the situation.

Late on Thursday trucks could be seen disembarking from ferries loaded with generators. In a further sign of emergency services being relocated to the island, it was announced that social workers and psychologists would be dispatched to Santorini.

Experts are divided as to whether Wednesday night’s 5.2-magnitude earthquake is a precursor to a much more powerful tremor – one that could trigger a tsunami – or a sign that the seismic buildup is diminishing.

“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 the 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.”