A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Istanbul on Wednesday leading to scenes of panic in the Turkish metropolis, officials said.
The quake occurred in the Sea of Marmara close to Silivri, which lies around 70 kilometers (40 miles) to the west of the city, and aftershocks are continuing, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD)..
Istanbul authorities said there had been no loss of life but that 151 people were injured after “jumping from heights due to panic.”
No residential buildings were damaged, authorities added, but one abandoned building collapsed in the central Fatih District.
In February 2023, Turkey experienced one of its deadliest earthquakes in the last century, when a 7.8 magnitude quake struck 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in the southern Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles).
That quake also hit northern Syria, killing more 50,000 people across both countries.
With two key fault lines in its vicinity – the North Anatolian and the East Anatolian – Turkey is one of the most seismically active regions in the world, a reality that has amplified concern over Istanbul’s earthquake preparedness.
Once the capital of the Byzantine and the Ottoman empires, the densely populated city is home to around 16 million people. It lies precariously close to the North Anatolian fault, which passes within 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) of Istanbul and through the Sea of Marmara, according to the Geological Society of London.
Historically, that fault has led to several disastrous earthquakes, including a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck the nearby city of Izmit in 1999, killing over 17,000 people, and displacing an estimated 500,000 others.
An earthquake occurs when the Earth’s crust shifts abruptly, with energy radiated out as seismic waves and shaking that can violently impact people, buildings and infrastructure.
Those waves and factors related to the shifting ground determine an earthquake’s magnitude, as measured through 10 on the scale most commonly used to describe quakes. An earthquake that measures between 6 and 6.9 is classified as “strong.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
