The Turkish port city of Gemlik in western Turkey was the scene of a magnitude 3.5 earthquake this morning. The tremors were measured at a depth of around 13.2 kilometers at 10:45 a.m. local time, as reported by the disaster control authority AFAD. The epicenter was around seven and a half kilometers northeast of the city center.

The magnitude on the Richter scale was given as 3.5 - a quake that is usually only felt slightly and by few people. Slight tremors were felt as far away as the province of Bursa, explained VolcanoDiscovery. No damage was caused, and no aftershocks were registered.

Ships sail from the port city of Gemlik to the prison island of Imrali, where Abdullah Öcalan has been held as a political hostage since 1999. The entire region is a tectonically and seismically active area with recurring natural earthquakes that can be quite noticeable and even cause damage. At the beginning of December, a 5.1 magnitude seaquake occurred in the Gulf of Gemlik. The quake was also felt in the provinces of Istanbul, Kocaeli and Sakarya. Several people were injured by falling down stairs.

Turkey is often affected by earthquakes due to geological processes deep underground. Several continental plates collide in the region: the Arabian plate pushes northwards into the Eurasian plate and forces the Anatolian plate to between two centimetres further west every year. The tension builds up over years and then suddenly discharges in one fell swoop in the form of an earthquake.

On 6 February last year, south-eastern Turkey and parts of northern Syria were hit by two severe series of earthquakes. According to official figures, more than 50,000 people lost their lives in Turkey alone and hundreds of thousands of buildings collapsed or were so badly damaged that they are now uninhabitable. Independent experts such as the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) spoke of at least twice as many victims.