Ambraseys (2009) notes that
al-ʿUmari (f. 47r) gives
only A.H. 381, but adds that the village which sank
into the ground with great loss of life was called Duma, located
next to Damascus rather than near Baalbek as
[Yahya] al-Antaki reports, and gives Safar 17
A.H. 381 – a Friday corresponding to Tuesday,
5 May 991 CE – for the final aftershock.
Ambraseys (2009) also observes that
in al-ʿUmari’s text the reading of Duma is uncertain;
it could be Dummar, or more likely Dumayr, an important
station on the main road north of Damascus.