Strong Earthquake Strikes Levant

Date: November 25, 1759 • Location: Qiryat Shemona, Israel

The second of two strong earthquakes struck the Levant and destroyed all the villages in the Beqaa Valley.

The 1759 Near East earthquakes shook a large portion of the Levant in October and November of that year. This geographical crossroads in the Eastern Mediterranean were at the time under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The ruins of Baalbek, a settlement in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon east of the Litani River, were badly damaged. These 1759 events, along with the earlier 1202 Syria earthquake, are likely the strongest historical earthquakes in the region.