After a year of foreshocks, an earthquake occurred on 12 August 1157 near the city of Hama, in west-central Syria (then under the Seljuk rule), where the most casualties were sustained.

[2] In eastern Syria, near the Euphrates, the quake destroyed the predecessor of the citadel al-Rahba, subsequently rebuilt on the same strategic site.

The earthquake also affected Christian monasteries and churches in the vicinity of Jerusalem.