The first sequence affected areas around Aleppo and the western part of the region of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey).

During the second an area encompassing north-western Syria, northern Lebanon and the region of Antioch (modern Antakya, in southern Turkey) was subject to devastating quakes.

[9] The Dead Sea Fault and the convergent boundary north of it have produced many notable seismic events both long before and after the Aleppo earthquake.

Some of these were so traumatic that they found their way into myth and theology of ancient peoples such as the quake occurring during the Crucifixion of Christ,[10] or the 1500 BCE event which destroyed the city of Jericho and subsequently saw it abandoned.

[12] Carena and others (2023) postulated a ~50 km (31 mi) rupture along the longer and linear northern segment of the St. Simeon Fault corresponding to a Mw  7.2 earthquake.

However, Kemal al-Din, an author writing later, recorded only one earthquake on 19–20 October, which disagrees with al Qalanisi's account.

The citadel also collapsed, killing 600 of the castle guard, though the governor and some servants survived, and fled to Mosul.

The residents of Aleppo, a large city of several tens of thousands during this period, had been warned by the foreshocks and fled to the countryside before the main earthquake.

The holes allowed Crusaders and people from Muslim factions to invade the city, and another citadel in Aleppo was breached.

[15] Contemporary accounts of the damage simply state that Aleppo was destroyed, though comparison of reports indicate that it did not bear the worst of the earthquake.

[17][clarification needed] Aleppo lay on key land trade routes between Africa, Asia, and Europe.