This district is very famous on account of the frequency of the earthquakes which have affected it at different times. Among the old Jewish manuscripts there is an article on
Ramla, which contains a magnificent
description of the earthquake which occurred in Syria and Palestine on 12
Tabith 425.
Here then is the description, which we have translated from the Hebrew:
Dinab, II, 232
The people evacuated their houses in order to flee into the streets, the walls collapsed, floors cracked,
well-built houses collapsed, new buildings fell down, people died, buried under the ruins, without any concern for their safety... People left their homes with no
thought for their affairs which they had left behind. They abandoned their goods, which were destroyed, seeking only their own safety. Whichever direction they
took, they knew that they would find a miracle of God, and so they ran with their heads down, then scattered. The buildings which remained upright were nevertheless
cracked and were unsteady. When the eyes contemplated and the ears heard such a horror, people went out of their minds .. . These events occurred at sunset: they
struck Ramla and all of Palestine Violently. The citadels and the countryside were razed to sea level as far as Banyas, south of the mountain as far as Jerusalem and
in the neighbouring coastal regions as far as Nablus and its villages. At Tiberias and in the surrounding area we saw the mountains move like sheep; rocks exploded
and in the forests the trees bent over. Wells overflowed. Words fail one in describing the catastrophe
