An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 has shaken the Turkish Marmara region and has been felt as far as the center of Istanbul. The epicenter was located in the Sea of Marmara to the west of the metropolis of millions in front of the district Silivri, said the civil protection agency Afad. It is the second quake within two days. Already on Tuesday shook a quake of magnitude 4.6 the Marmara region.
Hardly any city is considered as earthquake-prone as Istanbul. The fear of a devastating earthquake is omnipresent in the metropolis. The city with about 16 million inhabitants is located on the so-called North Anatolian Disorder, a border between the Eurasian and the Anatolian Erdplatte.
Only in July had scientists around the Kiel geophysicist Dietrich Lange from the Geomar Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in front of the city discovered significant tectonic tensions. These would be enough to cause a quake of magnitude 7.1 to 7.4.
Turkey has been repeatedly shaken by earthquakes in the past. One of the deadliest was the earthquake in 1999 near Istanbul. At that time, more than 17,000 people were killed.
