In 1202 CE, shortly before the Fourth Crusade, a powerful earthquake struck the Levant. Several authors documented its effects on Baalbek and its surroundings. The contemporary scholar Ibn al-Latif al-Baghdadi reproduced a letter from Hama in Syria reporting that the Citadel of Baalbek had been damaged despite its noted strength and firmness. Sibt ibn al-Jawzi and Abu Shama reported that the Citadel was destroyed, also emphasizing its reputed strength and stability. Sibt ibn al-Jawzi and Abu Shama also recounted an episode in which a group of people from Baalbek were crushed to death when “two mountains collapsed on top of each other” — an apparent reference to a catastrophic landslide. A later writer, Ibn al-Dawādārī, repeated the story of the Baalbek landslide victims and confirmed that most of the citadel of Baalbek was destroyed.