Residents have been warned to avoid indoor gatherings, check escape routes, stay away from cliffs and to drain swimming pools to reduce potential structural damage to buildings in the event of a large earthquake.

The Mayor of Santorini has said the hundreds of earthquakes that have hit Greek islands on the Aegean Sea are a “seismic swarm" and could continue for weeks before eventually diminishing.

“This phenomenon may play out with small quakes or a single, slightly stronger one, followed by gradual subsidence," said Mayor Nikos Zorzos, adding he was cautiously optimistic after speaking to seismologists who described the swarm as a series of tremors of similar magnitude occurring in clusters.

Emergencies rescue crews have been deployed to the Greek volcanic island after hundreds of quakes with magnitudes between 3 and 4.9 have been registered since Saturday between Santorini and the nearby island of Amorgos.

Authorities sent rescuers with a sniffer dog and drones to Santorini, where they set up tents in a basketball court next to the island’s main hospital as a staging area. Push alerts have been sent to mobile phones warning people to stay away from areas where rock slides could occur, and banning access to some coastal areas.