Writing shortly after the event, William McClure Thomson reports that in Beirut "very many of the houses were badly cracked," while on the river flat east of town "houses were greatly injured, some thrown down," an observation that strongly suggests a liquefaction site effect. In a separate account based on his own eyewitness testimony, he describes how buildings "began to shake fearfully" and were "cracked from top to bottom," though the shock was "comparatively slight" in Beirut.

Similarly, Edward Robinson notes that although the earthquake centered near Safed, its effects extended along the coast, with "several [houses] cracked and injured even in Beirut." Together these accounts indicate relatively light to moderate damage in Beirut compared to more severely affected inland regions, with localized amplification on unconsolidated river deposits.