A strong earthquake struck Türkiye, causing buildings in Istanbul to shake.

The earthquake occurred at 12:49 [09:49 GMT] According to Turkiye’s Disaster and Remange Authority (AFAD), a preliminary level 6.2 was conducted on Wednesday in the Marmara Sea on the coast of Istanbul’s Silviri region.

According to the German Center for Geoscience Research (GFZ), it has a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles).

The initial earthquake was followed by three more with amplitudes of 4.4 to 4.9, and Turkey’s AFAD Disaster Management Agency posted on X.

A AFP reporter said people rushed to the streets as the buildings vibrated, where there were many worrying people staring at their phones for information or making calls.

“I just feel like the earthquake, I have to go out,” said a shaky decorator. He rushed out of the fourth floor apartment he worked near the city’s Galata Tower in the fourth floor, and he didn’t want to name it.

There were no reports of immediate damage, but people evacuated the building because the city’s buildings were located on the European and Asian coasts of the Bosphorus Strait. Broadcasting company TGRT reported jumping off the balcony during the earthquake, which was a person injured, which occurred during Turkiye’s public holiday.

Kemal Cebi, mayor of Kucukcekmece region in western Istanbul, told local broadcaster NTV that “no negative developments are yet”, but he reported that many buildings are already at risk due to the density of the area, and many are already at risk.

In an article on X, Turkiye’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said the emergency authorities had begun “on-site assessments” and expressed good wishes to those affected.

AFAD warns people in the area not to enter damaged buildings.

According to AFP journalists in the capital Sofia, the tremor feels the same as Bulgaria.

Türkiye was crossed by two major fault lines and earthquakes were frequent.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that occurred on February 6, 2023, a second powerful tremor that occurred in a few hours later destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in southern and southeastern Turkey, killing more than 53,000 people. In the neighboring country northern Syria, another 6,000 people were killed.

Although Istanbul was not affected by the earthquake, the disaster has exacerbated fear of earthquake-like experts, citing the proximity of the city to the fault line.

To prevent any damage from future earthquakes, both national and local governments have started urban reconstruction projects to strengthen risky buildings and to begin demolishing buildings at risk.