A series of earthquakes, including a 6.2-magnitude tremor, struck near Istanbul on Wednesday morning, shaking buildings in Turkey’s largest city and prompting people to flee apartment blocks.
Istanbul, which is Turkey’s most populous city and home to 16 million people – a fifth of the country’s residents lies just 20km to the north of the North Anatolian Fault Line.
According to reports, the epicentre of the 6.2-magnitude tremor was located along the coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the Silivri area, about 80 km (50 miles) west of Istanbul.
The country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) revealed that Turkey’s emergency services said the largest earthquake on Wednesday struck at 12:49 local time (09:49 GMT), at a depth of 6.92 km (4.3 miles).
Turkish officials also reported two other smaller quakes, while aftershocks were also recorded with people reporting lamps and other furniture crashing to the floor in their homes.
