Hundreds of people crowded a port on the Greek island of Santorini in the early hours of Tuesday morning, trying to board a ship for safety. More individuals were expected to fly out later on Tuesday, as airlines scheduled special flights and maritime companies dispatched extra ships. Since Friday, hundreds of tremors have been recorded between the Aegean Sea’s volcanic islands of Santorini and Amorgos. On Tuesday morning, regular quakes occurred barely minutes apart, rattling the region.

Fears of a major earthquake to come Locals are evacuating Santorini and the nearby islands of Anafi, Ios, and Amorgos, all famous summer vacation destinations, amid fears that the tremors will lead to a major earthquake. “I haven’t slept for days, the children and women are crying, and it’s shaking every five minutes,” one man who left Santorini via ferry told Reuters. According to the German news agency DPA, almost one-third of Santorini’s 16,000 people have temporarily departed the island. “Everything’s closed. No one is working now. “The entire island is empty,” Dori, an 18-year-old local resident, told Reuters before boarding the ferry.

Authorities warn of rockslides, closing schools. As a precaution, authorities have ordered emergency crews to Santorini and three other adjacent islands until Friday. The authorities have also closed schools. On Monday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotaki urged citizens to remain calm and heed authorities’ orders. People have been warned to avoid large indoor gatherings and to stay away from coastal areas owing to the possibility of landslides. Hotels and homes have been instructed to empty their swimming pools since excessive amounts of water could undermine buildings in the case of a major earthquake.

‘There is no reason to panic.’ On Monday afternoon, the biggest quake recorded so far measured 4.9 on the Richter scale. “We are closely monitoring the situation, but there is no reason to panic,” Efthymios Lekkas, president of Greece’s Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, told eKathimerini, a Greek news website. “While these earthquakes are concerning, they do not yet indicate any imminent volcanic eruption or catastrophic event,” according to him.

Seismology expert Manolis Skordilis of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki described the high seismic activity in Santorini as “extremely serious,” according to Greece’s Amna news agency. He cited earthquakes of higher than seven on the Richter scale, which created a wave and caused enormous damage.