Istanbul hit with powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake

LAST UPDATE | 20 hrs ago

THE COAST OFF Istanbul has been rocked by a powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake, with its impact and that of multiple aftershocks forcing thousands out onto the streets in panic across Turkey’s largest city.

The quake hit the Marmara Sea near the western outskirts of the Turkish city, and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks, some very powerful, the interior minister said.

More than 150 people sustained injuries while trying to flee from buildings, but there were no reports of serious injuries or major damage.

“An earthquake of 6.2 magnitude occurred in Silivri, Marmara Sea, Istanbul,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, adding that it was also felt in the surrounding provinces. 

The initial earthquake struck at 12:49 pm (10.49am Irish time) at a depth of 6.92 kilometres under the sea, which lies to the south of the city, and lasted 13 seconds, he said.

“By 3.12pm (1.12pm Irish time), 51 aftershocks – the largest of which was 5.9 magnitude – had been recorded,” he said.

As buildings shook, people rushed onto the streets where crowds of worried-looking people stared at their mobile phones for information or made calls, an AFP correspondent said.

“I just felt an earthquake, I’ve got to get out,” a shaken-looking decorator, who did not want to give his name, said while fleeing a fourth-storey apartment where he was working near the city’s Galata Tower.

In a statement, Istanbul governor Davut Gul said: “Due to panic, 151 of our citizens were injured from jumping from heights. Their treatments are ongoing in hospitals, and they are not in a life-threatening condition.”

“There is no destruction to residential buildings in the city but an abandoned building collapsed in Fatih District without causing any deaths or injuries,” the governor’s office said on X.

Footage posted by the state news agency Anadolu showed the minaret of a mosque in the Beylikduzu district just west of the historic peninsula swaying during the initial quake.

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But there were no reports of other buildings collapsing in the sprawling city of 16 million people, Yerlikaya told TRT public television.

Schools and universities, which were closed today as Turkey was marking National Sovereignty Day, would remain closed until the weekend, the education ministry said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “following the developments closely”.

‘Nothing we can do’  

“We all panicked and just ran. There’s absolutely nothing else we can do,” Yusuf, a street seller, told AFP.

The tremors could be felt as far away as Bulgaria, according to AFP journalists in the capital Sofia.

Silivri, on the megacity’s western outskirts, has made headlines in the past month as it is where Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was jailed after his arrest in a graft probe that his critics say is politically motivated.

Also at the Silivri jail are a number of students detained for joining the mass protests that erupted nationwide over the move against Imamoglu, Erdogan’s biggest political rival.

Although they felt the quake, none were hurt, the Parents Solidarity Network said 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 tremor to be felt in Istanbul was in mid-November, when a quake caused brief panic but no damage or injuries.

Turkish and foreign seismologists agree that Istanbul is likely to be struck by major earthquakes in the coming decades given its location of less than 20 kilometres from the North Anatolia fault line.

Around 20,000 people were killed in two massive quakes that devastated Turkey’s densely populated northwest – including parts of Istanbul – three months apart in 1999 as the eastern strand of the fault line ruptured.

© AFP 2025