Hürriyet: Possible Istanbul quake to exceed losses from previous Türkiye disasters

Experts expect another earthquake exceeding the losses in the southeast of Türkiye may occur in Istanbul.

Seismologists state that Istanbul is located at the junction of the Anatolian and Eurasian tectonic plates, 15-20 kilometres south of the section of the North Anatolian Fault that runs under the Marmara Sea. Thus, an earthquake can lead to catastrophic consequences, Hurriyyet reports.

"In other words, the earthquake in Kahramanmaras is almost a rehearsal of the Istanbul earthquake," the article says.

There are 1,164,000 buildings and 4.5 million apartments in Istanbul, each inhabited by an average of 3.3 people. With an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 and higher, it is expected that 13,492 buildings will be critically damaged and 39,325 buildings will be severely damaged.

It is known that 70 per cent of the buildings in Istanbul were built before 2000.