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Among the material damage caused by the earthquake of Thursday, September 26 in Istanbul, a minaret was damaged. REUTERS / Murad Sezer

The metropolis of Istanbul was shaken Thursday, September 26 by a magnitude 5.7 earthquake.

With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

Schools, offices and many residents had to be evacuated and some 40 people were slightly injured. This earthquake reminds us of the threat hanging over the Turkish megacity , located near an important seismic fault.

It had been twenty years since the ground had not trembled so hard under the feet of the Istanbulites ... A few seconds of a magnitude 5.7 earthquake, followed by dozens of aftershocks, whose epicenter was located on the fault North Anatolian, the very one that threatens to break in the Sea of ​​Marmara.

The Turkish authorities have reported minimal material damage. A minaret has collapsed, a building has fallen, and many others, built without respecting seismic standards, have cracks.

As a precaution, the inhabitants concerned were invited to leave the premises, and parents of primary school and college students were asked to pick up their children. As with every jolt in Turkey, we have seen scenes of panic. Equally disturbing: the lines of major mobile operators were cut for almost an hour.

Here, all who have experienced it remember the 1999 earthquake, which killed at least 18,000 people and whose epicenter was located about 100 kilometers east of Istanbul. Seismologists are as unprepared as it is, the largest city in Turkey and its 15 million inhabitants live under the constant threat of a major earthquake.