Istanbul in danger of devastating quake within next 7 years, warns scientist

Another destructive earthquake could hit Turkey’s largest metropolis, Istanbul, within the next seven years, according to Turkish scientist Naci Gorur, quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper on Friday.

"The situation in Istanbul is not good at all. As I wrote three days ago, we are all worried about Kahramanmaras (where two powerful earthquakes occurred on February 6 - TASS), but now I am worried about Istanbul. All scientific studies show that Istanbul’s time is coming. Previously, it was said that an earthquake was expected in about 30 years, and since it has already been 23 years, I must say that it is very close," the expert observes.

According to him, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake could hit Istanbul. "Although we expect a smaller earthquake in Istanbul, it will cause more damage here than in Kahramanmaras," Gorur maintained.

On February 6, 2023, 7.7-and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes struck Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province in the country’s southeast, nine hours apart. The tremors followed by hundreds of aftershocks were also felt in neighboring countries, of which Syria was the hardest hit. In Turkey, more than 38,000 people are listed as dead and over 105,000 were injured.