It was felt from Guadeloupe in the north to the Ventuari River in the south and Maracaibo in the west and Kaw, French Guiana in the east.

The wide extent of moderate to severe shaking suggests an intermediate focal depth for the earthquake of 85 ± 20 kilometres (53 ± 12 miles).

This depth is not consistent with rupture along the transform margin, where earthquakes are typically shallow focus, but is consistent with rupture along the subduction interface at the southern end of the Lesser Antilles subduction zone, at the transition to the transform boundary.

Cumaná was severely affected, with the city being described as "entirely destroyed" by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in their account of their travels in the area from 1799 to 1804, published in 1814.

In Caracas the damage to houses was generally minor, but several larger structures, including some religious buildings, were more badly affected.