Beginning on 8 October, the Spanish-conquered city was rocked by a series of strong earthquakes which were felt as far as Spain and Malta.

[1] On the morning of 10 October, at 01:15 local time, the most violent shock razed many homes in Oran to the ground, trapping 1,000 people.

[3] Damage to Oran and neighboring Mazalquivir were so severe that the Spanish Empire eventually left the cities in 1792 because repair works were not viable.

Small waves also struck the Iberian Peninsula in Almeria and Cartagena, wherein the latter location, the sea level rose by up to 6 feet.

[7] The converging plates create a zone of compression in northern Algeria, which are accommodated by mainly thrust and reverse faults onshore and inland.

The tectonic situation of Algeria also makes the country vulnerable to large and deadly seismic events with magnitudes greater than 6.0.

[8] Previous studies of earthquakes in Algeria and on this particular event have assigned the maximum seismic intensity at IX–X on the MSK-64, EMS-98 and Mercalli scales.

Based on inferring the historical descriptions of the event, Oran was assigned IX–X, while intensities IV–V was felt in Almeria and Cartagena (IV).

[9] The high intensity shaking and tsunami generation is due to the shallow hypocenter depth and offshore epicenter location.

[9] According to Pedro María Legallois Grimarest, a military officer, the tremors began with the vertical movement of the ground and was followed by shaking in the southwest–northeast direction.

[9] On 6 June 2008, a Mwc  5.5 earthquake struck off the coast of Oran with a maximum felt intensity of VII on the EMS-98 scale or VI on the Mercalli.