Turkey earthquake: People flee homes as 5.1-magnitude tremor strikes near Istanbul

Earthquake south of Istanbul rocked homes and businesses

The skyline of Bursa, a city that lies close to the epicentre of a 5.1-magnitude quake that shook Turkey on Monday. Getty

An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 has struck northern Turkey, around 60km south of Istanbul.

No casualties have been reported so far around the epicentre of the quake, in the Marmara Sea’s Gemlik Bay, near the city of Bursa.

Some people left their homes and walked out on to the street, fearing the buildings would collapse, AFP reported on Monday.

Istanbul, a city of 16 million, has long-feared another major earthquake since a catastrophic tremor in 1999 killed around 17,000 people, mostly in the Marmara region and about 1,000 in Istanbul, which lies near the North Anatolian fault line.

Experts say an earthquake in Istanbul could be deadlier than the quake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria in February, killing about 60,000 people, mostly in Turkey, and destroying scores of thousands of homes.