The event was a large intraplate earthquake occurring within the Eurasian plate, at the margin of the South China Sea.

[2] The eight provinces that were affected by the earthquake were Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Hubei.

The Chao'an District of Chaozhou City in Guangdong Province saw 20% of all residential buildings completely destroyed and another 40% partially collapsed.

[2] Many pagodas, homes and temples in Suzhou, Guangzhou and Nanjing partially collapsed or were damaged due to the earthquake.

[10] As a result of the earthquake, numerous fissures opened in the ground, most of them several meters long and tens of centimeters wide.

In Zhangpu County numerous cracks as wide as 33 centimeters and 100 meters long erupted black and yellow mud but closed up after the tremor was over.