[Today's News] Earthquake of magnitude 6.2 near Istanbul, Turkey

The German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) announced that a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred in the sea near Istanbul, Turkey at around 12:49 p.m. on the 23rd (local time).

The epicenter was 40.88 degrees north latitude and 28.15 degrees east longitude, and the epicenter was 10 km deep.

The Turkish Disaster Management Agency (AFAD) said on the day that "three more aftershocks of magnitude 4.4 to 4.9 occurred following the first earthquake," and urged residents to leave buildings and evacuate.

There were no immediate reports of damage, but foreign media reported that people in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city with a population of 16 million, and surrounding areas were shocked and ran out of buildings.

The local broadcaster TGRT reported that one person was injured after jumping from a balcony during the earthquake that occurred on a local holiday.

(Omitted)

Local geologists have warned that Istanbul, located 15-20km south of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, where the Anatolian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet and where there is a risk of a devastating earthquake, is also at risk.

Istanbul is said to have 1.1 million buildings and 4,500 apartments, with an average of 3.3 people living there.

According to a local daily Hurriyet report from two years ago, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in the area would cause “serious” damage to 13,000 buildings and “major” damage to 39,000.

Source: Nate News

All my bones will say, “Who is like the Lord, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who plunders them?” (Psalm 35:10)

Dear Lord, we hear the sad news that a magnitude 6.2 earthquake has struck the land of Istanbul, Turkey.

Two years after two major earthquakes struck southeastern Turkey in February 2023, killing about 50,000 people, another earthquake has struck Istanbul, the center of Turkey. Please have mercy on the Turks who are trembling in fear.

Even though aftershocks are still occurring, please protect them so that a bigger earthquake does not strike, so that no more damage occurs and no innocent lives are lost. Please hold us with your hand.

Just as our lives shake without strength when the ground shakes, we confess that a life without the Lord as our rock is like building a house on sand. We hope that the Turks will meet Jesus, our savior and master, and hold on to Him alone as our rock.

Please approach the Turks who are trembling in fear before this unpredictable and helpless disaster as a comforter, and add to their impoverished hearts the thirst to know the truth.

May the global church not turn away from the pain of this earthquake that Turkey is experiencing again, but pray together with the love of Jesus, have interest, and serve the Turkic church and the Turkic people. May the countless Turks experience Jesus Christ who does not turn away from our pain but saves us and meets us!

So that in the last days, the countless remnants in the land of Turkey may rise up and confess that only the Lord can save us and that there is no one like the Lord!

May they rise up as the King's army that risks its life to advance the gospel to all nations as a nation that lives for the Lord!