An earthquake measuring 5.3 hit western Turkey

The quake was felt in Istanbul and several other cities several hundred kilometres (miles) east of Canakkale. Its epicentre was located off shore in the Sea of Marmara’s Saros Gulf, seismologists said.

A big earthquake hit eastern Turkey in May, killing 167 people. In 1999 two massive quakes killed more than 18,000 people and devastated large sections of the industrialised northwest.

Turkey is criss-crossed with fault lines, and shoddy construction and poorly enforced building codes has contributed to high quake mortality rates.