[4] Dubrovnik's region is located in the eastern part of the Adriatic Sea and is a narrow strip of land, dotted by a series of bays, with the Dinaric Alps in the background, and hundreds of islands along the coast.

[5] The city of Dubrovnik was built in the most seismically active area in Croatia, which makes earthquakes the strongest in the whole country.

It is the only Croatian town that is shown in red on the seismic map, which means that it is exposed to potential hazard of the strongest earthquakes, those of 10 degrees in the Mercalli scale.

[1] This event is thought to be the biggest one in the history of Dalmatia and practically defines seismic hazard in the coastal area of Croatia.

The Venetian enclave of Cattaro experienced a maximum intensity of 8 EMS98, with an estimated 250-300 people dead in a town of ~1300 residents.

[8] It is assumed that the large scale of destruction is due primarily to two factors: the previous earthquakes of 1520 and 1639, and the poor properties of the adhesives, prepared using brackish and sea water, used in the construction of the buildings.

[11] Alongside the fire, robbery had taken over the city as a result of the anarchy that followed, given that the earthquake killed the Rector and wiped out a great part of the government.

Water had to be imported, gathered from the rainfall or drawn from the wells of the Gruž Dominican monastery, which were surprisingly undamaged.