Both Yahya of Antioch and George al-Makīn described an early April 991 CE earthquake, centered on Damascus and Baalbek.

Yahya of Antioch, writing not long after the event, records that on the night of Saturday 17 Muharram A.H. 381 (April 5 991 CE), “there was a great earthquake in Damascus; more than a thousand houses collapsed and a large number of inhabitants perished under the rubble.” He adds that “a village in the vicinity of Baalbek was swallowed up,” and that shocks continued “without respite until Friday the 17th of Safar [May 5 991 CE].” People fled the city and lived in tents in the desert as the ground kept shaking.

George al-Makīn’s later summary largely follows Yahya’s account: “In the year A.H. 381, there was a great earthquake in Damascus on the 17th of Muharram. A thousand houses collapsed. Many died. Likewise, in the district of Baalbek, there were collapses. Aftershocks continued until Friday 14 Safar. People left their homes to stay in the plains.”