A state of emergency has been declared on the island of Amorgos in the Aegean, as a string of earthquakes continues to rattle the region.

The emergency measure announced on the island of Amorgos follows a similar decision for nearby Santorini on February 7 after thousands of unusual tremors were registered in an undersea area

The Greek island has a long history of earthquakes, but what is causing the recent series of quakes has scientists perplexed.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency on a second Greek island as a series of earthquakes continued to rattle the south-eastern Aegean Sea region.

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.

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

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.

February marks the unofficial start of the tourist season in the Greek island of Santorini - when the first cruise ships are due to arrive and the Easter holidays approach. But with thousands of earthquakes shaking the island since January and experts unable to say when they will end,

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, the University of Athens’