It was felt across an area of more than two million square kilometers in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, from Saint Petersburg to the Aegean Sea.

[citation needed] In the Ottoman Empire (today's Bulgaria), the cities of Ruse, Varna and Vidin were almost completely destroyed.

[11] The main shock hit Bucharest between noon and 1 p.m.[12] The earthquake was felt for about 10 minutes and was so violent that all chimneys in the city collapsed.

[13][14] The Greek chronicler Dionysius Fotino reported that Prince Constantine Ypsilantis moved with his family to the Văcărești Monastery because his palace was severely damaged.

[5] However, despite the massive damage to buildings, only four deaths were reported: a Jewish woman and her baby, an itinerant merchant killed when Colțea Tower collapsed, and one other victim.

[15] The death toll may have been so low because the houses were built far apart and surrounded by large yards and gardens, so the buildings' vibrations did not propagate.

The aftershocks, six in total, lasted three minutes and were so strong that masonry buildings in Kiev and Lviv were shaken and the city bells began to ring.

[25] Anatolie Drumea, an academic from Chișinău, wrote in a letter that a nanny was walking a little boy in a stroller in the courtyard of the Lomonosov University library when, at 1:53 p.m., "the statues began to fall" and the stone benches were overturned.