Istanbul rocked by 445 aftershocks, people fear bigger quake
Istanbul (dpa)Istanbul was rocked by hundreds of aftershocks and more are expected in the days ahead, a monitoring centre said on Saturday after the Turkish metropolis was struck by a powerful earthquake earlier in the week. So far, there have been 445 aftershocks according to the Kandilli earthquake monitoring centre. Wednesday's magnitude-6.2 earthquake injured more than 200 people. Damage to more than 6,500 buildings has been reported so far, the Turkish Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum said on Friday. On Friday evening, an aftershock forced people out of their homes in some of Istanbul's most vulnerable neighbourhoods and some people are still camping outdoors, remaining in the open night and day amid fears of a worse quake, according to reports. By Thursday, more than 100,000 people had taken refuge in emergency shelters, while others left the city, slept in cars or camped outdoors. An active plate boundary runs along the Marmara Sea in front of the city that is home to 16 million, leading forecasters to predict a quake with a magnitude of more than 7 for years. This is now seen as even more likely.
Despite this, there are major shortcomings in the city's earthquake preparations. Observers fear a major event could lead to the deaths of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people.
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