[2] Many homes were damaged or destroyed due to poor building quality which collapsed on the inhabitants and resulted in a majority of the casualties.

The converging plates create a zone of compression in northern Algeria, which are accommodated by mainly thrust and strike-slip faults.

[6] Many poorly-engineered and satisfactorily built unreinforced masonry buildings did not collapse—this insight led to the mainshock being assigned a maximum seismic intensity of VIII on the Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik scale.

[6] The earthquake caused 171 fatalities and left 654 injured; 289 in critical condition; 12,500 people from over 1,300 families were made homeless.

In rural villages, many straw and mud-constructed homes collapsed, killing or injuring their inhabitants in their sleep in the early morning.

[7] The Algerian Government requested international aid, to which the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs provided US$30 thousand in emergency funds.

[8] Algerian officials urgently asked for food, dairy and blankets, and said that drinking water may be rapidly exhausted.

[9] Roads obstructed by rockfalls caused by the earthquake made relief efforts challenging and in some cases, impossible.

The Algerian Red Crescent established camps to accommodate survivors until prefabricated homes were ready and made an appeal for blood donation.