Istanbul hit by 6.2 magnitude earthquake

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 shook Istanbul and other areas on Wednesday, Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency said. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries in the metropolis of 16 million.

The earthquake had a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey. Its epicenter was about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara.

The quake was felt in several neighboring provinces and in the city of Izmir, some 550 kilometers (340 miles) south of Istanbul. There were several aftershocks, including one measuring 5.3.

Residents rushed out of homes and buildings in panic. The disaster and emergency management agency urged people to stay away from buildings.

The quake struck at 12:49 p.m. during a public holiday when many children were out of school and celebrating in the streets. The quake forced authorities in Istanbul to cancel the events.

Turkey’s interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said authorities had not received reports of collapsed buildings. He told HaberTurk television, however, there had been reports of damage to buildings.

Mayor Mehmet Ergun Turan of the historic Fatih district that houses the famed Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia told local media there was no damage or collapse reported, but one person was injured from jumping from a window in panic.

Kemal Cebi, the mayor of Kucukcekmece district in western Istanbul, told local broadcaster NTV there were “no negative developments yet” but reported traffic jams, and said many buildings were already at risk due to the area’s density.

Turkey is crossed by two major fault lines, and earthquakes are frequent.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Feb. 6, 2023, and a second powerful tremor hours later, destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern provinces, leaving more than 53,000 people dead. Another 6,000 people were killed in the northern parts of neighboring Syria.

Istanbul was not impacted by that earthquake, but the devastation heightened fears of a similar quake, with experts citing the city’s proximity to fault lines.

In a bid to prevent damage from any future quake, the national government and local administrations started urban reconstruction projects to fortify buildings at risk and launched campaigns to demolish buildings at risk of collapse.

Source: AP

--Agencies