Palestine and the Jordan Valley were severely affected by the Holy Desert Quake South. Several Christian chroniclers preserve closely related accounts of a powerful earthquake which caused an enormous loss of life and the collapse of churches and monasteries. The destruction was reportedly particularly severe in the desert or wilderness surrounding Jerusalem. These accounts are preserved by Paul the Deacon, Theophanes, Anastasius Bibliothecarius, Megas Chronographos, and George Cedrenus. Although these accounts differ somewhat in their chronology and wording, their descriptions of the earthquake are strikingly consistent: a great earthquake struck Palestine and the Jordan region, large numbers of people were killed, churches and monasteries collapsed, and the worst destruction occurred in the wilderness surrounding Jerusalem.

In Theophanes account, "numberless multitudes" perished and churches and monasteries collapsed, "especially those in the desert of the Holy City." Closely related versions are preserved by Paul the Deacon, who states that the earthquake was worst "in the wilderness of the Holy City," and George Cedrenus, who similarly reports that the worst effects occurred "in the wilderness by the Holy City." The repeated identification of this area as the zone of greatest destruction is significant because it provides substantially more geographic information than a general statement that an earthquake affected Palestine.

The references to collapsed churches and monasteries are also particularly significant in this geographic context. The wilderness east and southeast of Jerusalem contained numerous monasteries, churches, hermitages, and other Christian religious establishments. The chroniclers' specific association of collapsed monasteries with the area of greatest destruction therefore suggests intense shaking in and around the Judean Desert rather than merely reporting damage within Jerusalem itself. The extraordinarily large fatality figures reported by the chroniclers cannot be independently verified and should not be interpreted literally, but their repeated use of such language indicates that the earthquake was remembered as an exceptionally destructive event.

The explicit inclusion of the Jordan region further indicates that strong shaking extended eastward from the Jerusalem wilderness into the Jordan Valley. Thus, the historical descriptions collectively define a broad zone of severe seismic effects extending from the Jerusalem region through the Judean Desert toward the Jordan Valley. Most importantly, their repeated statement that destruction was worst in the wilderness surrounding Jerusalem provides a historical basis for placing the strongest effects of the Holy Desert Quake South south of the principal damage zone associated with the Holy Desert Quake North. The geographic pattern preserved by these accounts is therefore consistent with a southern epicentral region for the Holy Desert Quake South.