Chronicon Ad Annum 1234
records an earthquake that lasted for several days and shook
Damascus and the surrounding region. Innumerable people died
in nearby Ghuta and Darayya. Bostra and Nawa were said to have been
completely swallowed up. Much of Baalbek collapsed, and its
water sources turned to blood. At Beth Qubayeh (location
unknown), a palace collapsed, killing eight hundred people,
and many more perished in the surrounding settlement.
A great seismic sea wave was described that destroyed many
cities along an unnamed coast. In Balqaʾ or Moab, a similar
wave was said to have moved a palace three miles. Tiberias
was destroyed except for a single house; thirty synagogues
collapsed, and structures around a healing spring were
ruined. The river beside a spring near Jericho was displaced
six miles, and buildings along its banks collapsed. In
Mabbug, widespread
destruction occurred and many people died. One church
collapsed, killing everyone inside, and the city walls fell
to their foundations.
The author of the
Chronicon Ad Annum 1234 notes that his source
document contained many additional descriptions of seismic
effects that were not included in his own account.