Residents of Istanbul were late on April 23 still in a panicky mood following a series of earthquakes that shook the city of towards 20mn earlier in the day around noon local time. No casualties or collapsed buildings had been reported by the evening. However, the tremors were strong.

Outside of Istanbul, the earthquakes were also felt in neighbouring Tekirdag, Bursa, Yalova and Balikesir provinces. Turks were on alert amid fears of more destructive aftershocks.

Initial reports suggested that 151 people were hurt after jumping from windows in fear of buildings collapsing. Some of those people suffered heart attacks.

Video: Lucky man avoids serious injury after jumping from window.

Main roads became blocked as people flooded the streets, with many determined to leave the city. Airline ticket sales and prices quickly multiplied.

Tweet: Turks queuing at petrol stations in the aftermath of the quakes.

As evening approached, people remained outside on the streets. The Silivri Municipality warned people to avoid entering potentially unstable damaged buildings until receiving clearance to do so.

Photo: People gathered in city parks. The difficulty in Istanbul is that there is not enough space on the streets for a population sometimes measured at up to 20mn. The city is crammed with buildings.

GSM trio fail again

Turks were again venting frustrations at the country's mobile operators. Once again, their networks collapsed amid a critical situation. Following the February 2023 earthquake catastrophe that hit parts of the south of the country, Vodafone (London/VOD) Turkey CEO Engin Aksoy blamed collapsed buildings for the traditional lack-of-connection fiasco.

This time, no buildings collapsed. However, the big three GSM operating trio were again down.

Not the awaited big Istanbul quake

The biggest tremor of the series of earthquakes was recorded at 6.2-magnitude by the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Thus none of the quakes amounted to the long-feared "Big One", expected to one day occur on the Prince Islands fault line in the offshore waters of the Asian side of Istanbul.

Map: The earthquakes were centred in the sea, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) offshore from Silivri on the European side of Istanbul.

Istanbul shaken

Video: A video shot by Av. FATIH DAVUT EJDER (@avfatihejder) in Gungoren district on Istanbul’s European side at 12:49 local time when the 6.2-magnitude quake hit.

Video: Earthquake shakes the Bahcelievler Municipality building during a ceremony held for the April 23 national holiday.

Video: A block that fell from Istanbul’s ancient city walls fortunately missed parked vehicles.

Video: Panic in a grocery store.