An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 shook Istanbul and other areas Wednesday, prompting widespread panic and scores of injuries within the Turkish city of 16 million people, though there have been no immediate reports of significant damage.
Greater than 150 people were hospitalized with injuries sustained while attempting to jump from buildings, said the governor’s office in Istanbul, where residents are on tenterhooks because town is taken into account at high risk for a significant quake.
The earthquake had a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles), based on the US Geological Survey, with its epicenter about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Istanbul, within the Sea of Marmara.
It was felt within the neighboring provinces of Tekirdag, Yalova, Bursa and Balikesir and in town of Izmir, some 550 kilometers (340 miles) south of Istanbul. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the earthquake lasted 13 seconds and was followed by greater than 50 aftershocks — the strongest measuring 5.9.
The quake began at 12:49 p.m. during a public holiday when many children were out of faculty and celebrating within the streets of Istanbul. Panicked residents rushed from their homes and buildings into the streets. The disaster and emergency management agency urged people to keep away from buildings.
“On account of panic, 151 of our residents were injured from jumping from heights,” the Istanbul governor’s office said in an announcement. “Their treatments are ongoing in hospitals, they usually are usually not in life-threatening condition.”
Many residents flocked to parks, school yards and other open areas to avoid being near buildings in case of collapse or subsequent earthquakes. Some people pitched tents in parks.
“Thank God, there doesn’t appear to be any problems for now,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at an event marking the National Sovereignty and Children’s Day holiday. “May God protect our country and our people from all types of calamities, disasters, accidents and troubles.”
Leyla Ucar, a private trainer, said she was exercising along with her student on the twentieth floor of a constructing after they felt intense shaking.
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“We shook incredibly. It threw us around, we couldn’t understand what was happening, we didn’t consider an earthquake at first due to shock of the event,” she said. “It was very scary.”
Senol Sari, 51, told The Associated Press he was together with his children within the lounge of their third floor apartment when he heard a loud noise and the constructing began shaking. They fled to a close-by park. “We immediately protected ourselves from the earthquake and waited for it to pass,” Sari said. “In fact, we were scared.”
They later were capable of return home calmly, Sari said, but they continue to be frightened that an even bigger quake will someday strike town. It’s “an expected earthquake, our concerns proceed,” he said.
‘My children were just a little scared’
Cihan Boztepe, 40, was one in all many who hurriedly fled to the streets together with his family in an effort to avoid a possible collapse. Boztepe, standing next to his sobbing child, told AP that in 2023 he was living in Batman province, an area near the southern a part of Turkey where major quakes struck on the time, and that Wednesday’s tremor felt weaker and that he wasn’t as scared.
“At first we were shaken, then it stopped, then we were shaken again. My children were just a little scared, but I wasn’t. We quickly gathered our things and went right down to a secure place. If it were as much as me, we might have already returned home.”
Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities had not received reports of collapsed buildings. He told HaberTurk television that there had been reports of injury to buildings.
The NTV broadcaster reported that a derelict and abandoned former residential constructing had collapsed within the historic Fatih district, which houses the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.
Education Minister Yusuf Tekin announced that schools can be closed on Thursday and Friday in Istanbul.
“In step with the necessity for a secure space, our faculty gardens are open to the usage of all our residents,” Tekin said.
Urban reconstruction projects
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 lots of of 1000’s of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern provinces, leaving greater than 53,000 people dead. One other 6,000 people were killed within the northern parts of neighboring Syria.
Istanbul was not impacted by that earthquake, however the devastation heightened fears of an analogous quake, with experts citing town’s proximity to fault lines.
In a bid to forestall damage from any future quake, the national government and native administrations began urban reconstruction projects to fortify buildings in danger and launched campaigns to demolish buildings prone to collapse.
Jailed mayor expresses sadness
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul who was jailed last month on corruption charges, released an announcement through his lawyers, expressing his sadness at not having the ability to be with town’s residents.
“As managers and concrete planners who’ve dedicated their lives to disaster-focused planning in Istanbul and who’ve struggled for this purpose, my best sadness is that we will’t be with you,” the mayor said.
Many view the arrest of the politician, considered a key rival to Erdogan, as being politically motivated. The federal government insists the courts operate independently.
On Wednesday, long queues formed at gas stations as residents, planning to depart Istanbul, rushed to replenish their vehicles. Amongst them was Emre Senkay who said he might leave within the event of a more severe earthquake later within the day.
“My plan is to depart Istanbul if there’s a more serious earthquake,” he said.
–Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Robert Badendieck contributed from Canakkale, Turkey.
