An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 struck Istanbul on Wednesday afternoon, sending people rushing into the streets as buildings shook.
No major damage was reported, but a series of aftershocks was felt for hours after the initial quake hit Turkey. Witnesses reported panic in the moments after the tremor, and about 150 people hurt themselves trying to jump
"Everything started shaking and my friends shouted, ‘earthquake!’", Iona Rae, 18, who was sitting in a cafe in the upmarket Nisantasi district when the earthquake hit told The National. "People were very stressed and panicked straight away, but they have calmed down a bit now."
The US Geological Survey said the epicentre of the earthquake was about 40km south-west of Istanbul, in the Sea of Marmara.
Istanbul may have been spared worse because it was a "relatively deep earthquake" that struck about 10km to 13km below the Earth's surface, said Kemal Duran, a former director of the city's earthquake department. “If had been shallower, there would have been damage," he said.
April 23 is a public holiday in Turkey, meaning that many people were at home and not in offices or other workplaces at the time of the quake. Adamjan Kozhanazar, a personal trainer with a studio near Istanbul’s famous Istiklal Avenue shopping street, was sitting on a sofa when the quake struck.
“I'm a religious man, and I thought about Allah straight away,” he said. “Then when it stopped, I called my wife and kids and they were OK, so I felt relaxed again.”
Turkey's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the country's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority and other authorities have begun surveying for damage and casualties. "I offer my best wishes to our citizens affected by the earthquake," he said. "May God protect our country and our nation from disasters."
The German Research Centre for Geosciences said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2. It struck at a depth of 10km, it said. The tremor lasted about 30 seconds.
Traffic continued to flow in the central Beyoglu district of the city, witnesses said.
The earthquake was also felt in neighbouring regions, reports said. Many people rushed out of their homes in panic.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality said on social media that there were no “serious cases” caused by the earthquake.
The Istanbul governor's office said 151 people were injured when they jumped out of buildings but their condition was not life-threatening.
Kemal Cebi, the Mayor of Kucukcekmece district in western Istanbul, told local broadcaster NTV that there were “no negative developments yet”, but he reported that there were traffic jams and that many buildings were at risk.
Earthquake hits Istanbul - in pictures
Nagham Mohanna, The National's reporter from Gaza who lives in Istanbul, said she had never experienced such a strong tremor but her experience of the war in her homeland helped her to cope. She stood with her husband and two young children in the doorway of their home in the western Esenyurt district until the initial tremor passed.
"After it finished, we went down and stood outside. It calmed down a bit so we went back inside. I am used to this kind of thing because I am always on high alert - I always have a bag with all the emergency things in it - passports, birth certificates, important things. I always have that bag ready so I took it down with me," she said.
"We went back upstairs and organised ourselves a bit more, and now we are outside waiting in the street. A woman fainted in the street and people tried to help her regain consciousness. People are scared because there are aftershocks that could be strong."
The quake was followed by several aftershocks, including one measuring 5.3. Turkey's disaster and emergency management agency urged residents to stay away from buildings.
Ms Rae said she thought Istanbul, which lies near major fault lines, is not fully prepared for an earthquake. Many buildings were built before stringent construction regulations were brought in following an earthquake that killed at least 17,000 people in 1999.
“There are many shanty towns and unregulated buildings,” she said.
Some areas of the city are widely believed to be safer than others because they are built on firm rock, unlike other areas where sandy earth makes building foundations riskier.
The latest quake comes after a magnitude-7.8 tremor on February 6, 2023 – and a second hours later – that destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern Turkish provinces, leaving more than 53,000 people dead. Another 6,000 people were killed in the northern parts of neighbouring Syria].
The Voice of Hind Rajab
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Rating: 3.5/5
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Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
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Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
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The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
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10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
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Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
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The years Ramadan fell in May
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
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Chef Nobu's advice for eating sushi
“One mistake people always make is adding extra wasabi. There is no need for this, because it should already be there between the rice and the fish.
“When eating nigiri, you must dip the fish – not the rice – in soy sauce, otherwise the rice will collapse. Also, don’t use too much soy sauce or it will make you thirsty. For sushi rolls, dip a little of the rice-covered roll lightly in soy sauce and eat in one bite.
“Chopsticks are acceptable, but really, I recommend using your fingers for sushi. Do use chopsticks for sashimi, though.
“The ginger should be eaten separately as a palette cleanser and used to clear the mouth when switching between different pieces of fish.”
