It is probable that these two successive earthquakes
[
A.H. 130 and
A.H. 131] are
responsible for the hesitant and possibly confused accounts of 13th century
Sibt ibn al Jawzi, d.1257 (A. Elad, 1991, pers. comm.) followed by 15th century
Ibn Tagri Birdi (Shaltut, 1929), which report strong earthquakes (plural)
in Syria in AH 130, with heavy damage in Jerusalem, in the wake of which people
of Damascus fled into desolate areas for 40 days and add and it was said that the
earthquakes took place in AH 131.
