A powerful earthquake shook Istanbul on Wednesday, sending residents of Turkey’s most populous city pouring into the streets as buildings shook and onlookers screamed.
Turkey’s emergency services said the quake was magnitude-6.2 and that they were still scanning for possible destruction in the city of 16 million, which has long been bracing for a major tremor.
An initial assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey showed the quake had a depth of about six miles, with its epicenter some 25 miles southwest of Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara, the body of water that connects the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It was felt from the city of Bursa, around 40 miles from Istanbul, all the way to Izmir, a coastal city nearly 300 miles away.
Turkey, which straddles two major fault lines, is regularly hit by earthquakes. Memories of the devastating 2023 quake that struck the country’s southeast are still fresh.
That 7.8-magnitude quake and its aftershocks killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey, and left another 6,000 dead across the border in neighboring Syria.
Şafak Timur covers Turkey and is based in Istanbul.
The post Powerful Earthquake Shakes Istanbul appeared first on New York Times.
