About 10,000 people have left on ferries and planes in recent days as hundreds of small quakes were registered in the surrounding sea.

ATHENS, Greece — 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 Greek government has declared a state of emergency on Santorini after a series of powerful earthquakes in the Aegean Sea

Authorities bolster emergency plans in case the hundreds of temblors over the past few days are a harbinger of a larger quake to come

Precautions were also ordered on several nearby Aegean Sea islands - all popular summer vacation destinations - after more than 200 undersea earthquakes were recorded in the area over the past three days.

ATHENS, Greece — Multiple earthquakes are rattling Santorini, a volcanic island in Greece, prompting authorities to dispatch rescuers with tents, a sniffer dog and drones, and to shut schools on four islands.

More than 11,000 people have already left Santorini with around 7,000 departing by ferry and 4,000 people leaving by air. The quake followed two smaller tremors minutes earlier, and was recorded at 21:09 local time (19:09 GMT) as a magnitude 5.

The strongest earthquake recorded was magnitude 4.6 at 3:55 p.m. Sunday, at a depth of 14 kilometers (9 miles), the Athens Geodynamic Institute said.

More than 11,000 people have already left the island of Santorini following a series of tremors in recent days.