The epicentre of the earthquake was located near the town of Thénia in Boumerdès Province, approximately 60 km east of the capital Algiers.

The quake was the strongest to hit Algeria in more than twenty years – since 1980, when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake resulted in at least 2,633 deaths.

The relative plate motions create a compressional tectonic environment, in which earthquakes occur by thrust-faulting and strike-slip faulting.

[9] Many buildings built in the early twentieth century during the colonial rule suffered heavy damage in the Belcourt, Bab-El-Oued and El-Casbah areas in Algiers Province.

[12] Société Nationale des Transports Ferrovaires, Algeria's state-owned railway company, suffered track damage near the town of Thénia.

The port of Algiers, which at that time handled approximately 40% of the national cargo traffic, suffered light to moderate damage due to soil liquefaction and settlement caused by the earthquake.

[4] Two underwater fiber optic cables between Algeria and Spain received heavy damage due to undersea landslide caused by the quake.

International relief agencies engaged in supplies like shelter, food and water to the people who became homeless due to the quake.

[16] Government officials virtually did not take part in the relief efforts, but Islamic charities tried to provide quick assistance.

[15] New housing blocks constructed by the government and by individual builders were destroyed by the quake,[29][30] but private building from the French period withstood the earthquake.

Many angry protesters threw debris when President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Minister of State for the Interior and Local Authorities, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, tried to visit some affected regions.

[15] A crowd kicked and stoned the car of Bouteflika when he visited Boumerdès shouting "pouvoir assassin" ("murdering power").

[15] A commission of inquiry was set up by the government to investigate the faulty construction of several buildings which collapsed in the quake.