Magnitude 4.7 quake shakes Çankırı's Orta district in central Turkey


A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has struck northern Çankırı province's Orta district, rattling neighboring Ankara but with no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

According to the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the shallow quake struck at 8:14 p.m.

The last major temblor in Çankırı was a magnitude 6.1 quake on June 6, 2000 after the devastating İzmit and Düzce earthquakes.

Turkey is among the world's most seismically active countries as it is situated on a number of active fault lines, and the most potentially devastating fault line in Turkey is the Northern Anatolia Fault (NAF), where the Anatolian and Eurasian plates meet.

The country sits on 485 active fault lines that may lead to magnitude 5.5 earthquakes and above, according to a report by the state-run General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA). Following the deaths of more than 18,000 people in the Marmara earthquake of 1999, which devastated the country's northwestern cities in one of the worst earthquakes in recent memory, Turkey has been seeking ways to increase survival rates in potential future disasters.