Residents of Turkey’s largest metropolis rushed onto the streets after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that shook the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul on Wednesday.
According to Turkey’s AFAD disaster management service, there were at least eight aftershocks following the earthquake, although officials said there were no early reports of damage or injuries.
“A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Silivri, Sea of Marmara, Istanbul,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on X, noting that the surrounding provinces were also affected.
The first earthquake occurred 6.92 kilometers below the sea, south of the city, at 12:49 p.m. (0949 GMT), according to AFAD.
Eight shocks with magnitudes ranging from 3.5 to 5.9 followed it.
An AFP correspondent saw hundreds of worried citizens staring at their phones for information or making calls as buildings trembled and people fled onto the streets.
A obviously terrified decorator working in a fourth-story apartment close to the city’s Galata Tower declared, “I just felt the earthquake, I’ve got to get out.” He refused to identify himself.
The minaret of a mosque in the Beylikduzu district, just west of the old peninsula, was seen wobbling during the first tremor in footage released by the state news agency Anadolu.
However, Yerlikaya told TRT public television that no structures in the 16 million-person city were crumbling.
“No one has called the emergency line to report their house collapsing up to this point,” he said, but the governor’s office in Istanbul cautioned citizens to stay away from any buildings that looked damaged.
One three-story building collapsed in the Fatih neighborhood, which is also close to the historic peninsula, according to footage broadcast by Turkey’s NTV television. According to the broadcaster, the building had been deserted for ten years.
According to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he was “closely monitoring the developments.”
“We all panicked and just ran. There’s absolutely nothing else we can do,” said Yusuf, a street vendor.
The tremors were also felt as far away as Bulgaria, according to AFP journalists in the capital, Sofia.
Silivri, located on the megacity’s western outskirts, has recently made headlines as the location of the jail where Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained following a corruption probe that critics say is politically motivated.
Also held at the Silivri jail are a number of students detained during mass protests triggered by the move against Imamoglu, Erdogan’s leading political rival.
Although they felt the quake, none were harmed, according to the Parents Solidarity Network, which posted on X.
“The earthquake in Istanbul was most strongly felt in Silivri, but our children are fine. There is no problem at the prison—no parent should worry,” the group wrote.
The last noticeable tremor in Istanbul occurred in mid-November, causing brief panic but no injuries or damage.
Turkish and foreign seismologists agree that Istanbul is likely to be struck by a major earthquake in the coming decades, given its proximity, less than 20 kilometres to the North Anatolian fault line.
Around 20,000 people were killed in two massive earthquakes that devastated Turkey’s densely populated northwest, including parts of Istanbul, in 1999, when the eastern strand of the fault line ruptured.
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