Karcz (2004) observes that it is “probable that these two successive earthquakes” — those of A.H. 130 and A.H. 131 — “are responsible for the hesitant and possibly confused accounts of the 13th-century historian” Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1257; A. Elad, 1991, pers. comm.), “followed by the 15th-century historian” Ibn Taghribirdi (Shaltut, 1929). According to Karcz, both historians “report strong earthquakes (plural) in Syria in A.H. 130, with severe damage in Jerusalem.” He adds that “in the aftermath, the people of Damascus fled into deserted areas for forty days, and it was said that the earthquakes took place in A.H. 131.”