Writing from Jerusalem soon after the event, Eliezer Sussman reported that “because of the quake many towers fell down, almost a third of their height,” and added that “the tower of A. A.” —interpreted by later scholars as the the tower over Abraham’s tomb in Hebron—was among those that collapsed. Another Hebrew account, the Unknown Source in Ot Nafshi, gives a vivid picture of casualties at Hebron, noting that “sixteen Ishmaelites perished and seventy were injured with broken arms and legs.”

An Arabic chronicle by the Anonymous Continuator of Mujir Al-Din records that “on Thursday afternoon, 10 Dhu’l-Qa’da 952, there occurred a great earthquake in Jerusalem, al-Khalil [Hebron], Gaza, al-Ramlah, al-Karak, as-Salt, and Nablus which extended to Damascus.” He adds that it “lasted a short while and calmed down, and generally there was not a tall house in Jerusalem that was not left destroyed or fissured, and the same in al-Khalil [Hebron].” Ottoman archival documents describe extensive repairs that continued for nearly a decade. An order issued in Istanbul on 17 Rabi-II 959 (12 April 1552) to the finance officer of Arabistan directed the restoration of the sanctuary containing “the tombs of Abraham the Friend (al-Khalil aka Hebron), Isaac and Jacob (at Hebron)” which had “fallen down in part and become a ruin” (Ambraseys and Karcz, 1992: 259–260). This official correspondence confirms long-term reconstruction efforts in response to the quake damage of 1545 CE.