Occurring on a Tuesday evening at 7:39 pm Indian Standard Time, the earthquake was destructive in both Assam (India) and Tibet (China), and approximately 4,800 people were killed.

Northeastern India and southern Tibet lie in the frontal part of the zone of collision between the northward moving Indian plate and Eurasia.

The study discovered signs of soil liquefaction including sills and sand volcanoes inside at least twelve trenches in alluvial fans and on the Burhi Dihing River Valley that were formed by past seismic activity.

[7] Aftershocks were numerous; many of them were of magnitude 6 and over and well enough recorded at distant stations for reasonably good epicentre location.

In the Dibang Valley, a landslide lake burst without causing damage, but another at Subansiri River opened after an interval of 8 days and the wave, 7 m (23 ft) high, submerged several villages and killed 532 people.

In addition to the extreme shaking, there were floods when the rivers rose high after the earthquake bringing down sand, mud, trees, and all kinds of debris.

In Tibet, Heinrich Harrer reported strong shaking in Lhasa and loud cracking noises from the earth.

In Rima, Tibet (modern-day Zayü Town), Frank Kingdon-Ward, noted violent shaking, extensive slides, and the rise of the streams.

[11] Helen Myers Morse, an American missionary living in Putao, northern Burma at the time, wrote letters home describing the main shake, the numerous aftershocks, and of the noise coming out of the earth.