Strong earthquake rattles Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 shook Istanbul on Wednesday, Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency said. There were no reports of serious damage or injuries, but many people poured out of buildings in Istanbul in fear, looking for information on their phones and calling loved ones. 

The disaster agency urged people to stay away from buildings.

The earthquake had a shallow depth of about 6 miles, according to the United States Geological Survey. Its epicenter was some 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 340 miles south of Istanbul. 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.

“By 3:12 pm, 51 aftershocks — the largest of which was 5.9 magnitude — had been recorded,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on social media.

Yerlikaya said earlier that 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 that there were “no negative developments yet,” but he reported traffic jams and said many buildings were potentially at risk due to the density of the area.

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 that came hours later, destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern Turkish provinces, leaving more than 53,000 people dead. Another 6,000 people were killed in the northern parts of neighboring Syria.