On Wednesday, a series of earthquakes rocked the city of Istanbul, causing people to run out of buildings, and Turkish authorities warned residents to stay outdoors.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the largest earthquake had an amplitude of 6.2, hitting the Marmara Sea 13 miles from the Turkish coast at 12:49 pm local time (5:49 AM ET).
USGS said there were at least three aftershocks, near the economic ocean artery of the Bosphorus Strait, all of which gathered between 4 and 5.
USGS’s “Do you feel it?” map says it makes the city far away from the Romanian capital Bucharest and the Bulgarian capital Sofia 300 miles away.
But so far, Turkish officials are on X.
Officials also said at least 151 people were being treated in the hospital after jumping from a height due to panic caused by the panic.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Türkiye’s disaster management agency AFAD has “started on-site scanning now”.
Türkiye is a particularly active earthquake zone, sitting at the junction of three tectonic plates: Eurasia, Arabs and Africans.
About 60,000 people died in February 2023, when Türkiye and neighboring Syria were hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake and more than 500 aftershocks over the next 24 hours.
