Powerful Earthquake Shakes Istanbul – The New York Times

A powerful earthquake shook Istanbul on Wednesday, sending residents of Turkey’s most populous city pouring into the streets as buildings swayed and onlookers screamed.

The magnitude-6.2 tremor, which hit at 12:49 p.m. local time, rattled nerves in a country still traumatized by a devastating 2023 quake that struck the southeast. Turkey straddles two major fault lines and is regularly hit by earthquakes. The residents of Istanbul, in particular, have been bracing for a major quake that experts have warned for years is overdue in the ancient city.

The city of 16 million seemed to have evaded the long-predicted threat on Wednesday, with no deaths reported by late afternoon. But widespread panic spurred many people to jump off their balconies, according to the local governor’s office, which said 151 people had been injured doing so.

More than 50 aftershocks followed and shook Istanbul and the area around it throughout the day, with Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya saying the largest recorded a magnitude of 5.9. The governor’s office said it would shut down schools for two days to house people afraid to return to their homes. Many people sought safety in Istanbul’s parks.

The 2023 earthquake in southeastern Turkey forced the country to reassess its preparedness and building standards after entire city blocks collapsed. The 7.8-magnitude quake and its aftershocks killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and about 6,000 more across the border in neighboring Syria.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, said on Wednesday that emergency services were continuing to search for damage in Istanbul, the country’s economic hub. But by around 3:30 local time, the local authorities said they had found only one collapsed, empty building.