Moderate quake hits Turkish town

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 shakes a small Turkish town outside Istanbul, seismologists said.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 shook a small Turkish town outside Istanbul on Wednesday, seismologists said. No injuries or damage were immediately reported.

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The temblor occurred at 8:53 pm local time and was centered in the town of Cinarcik, about 50 kilometres across the Sea of Marmara, from Istanbul, the Kandilli Observatory's seismology center said. The quake was felt in Istanbul and other nearby towns.

Cinarcik was among areas devastated when two earthquakes hit northwestern Turkey in 1999, killing about 18,000 people. Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, much of which lies atop the active North Anatolian fault.