December 5, 1033 Earthquake: Ramala, Gaza, Nablus, Egypt, Israel, Syria

1033, Dec 05. Tsunami in Acre, and possibly nearby coast.

Regarding the cause of the tsunami, Amiran (ref#10419) mention a swarm of earthquakes during the winter of 1033/4, probably in the Jordan Valley, including the strongest shock on 1033 12 10 and another one on 1034 01 04. Ambraseys (ref#10421) and Ambraseys (ref#3845) also locate the earthquake in the Jordan Valley but date it on 1033 12 05. Guidoboni (ref#10420) suggests that the earthquake occurred on 1033 12 05, although Arabic sources give the date of 1033 12 05 as 1034 01 04. In their opinion, Perrey (ref#10418) dated this event to 1032 03 06, which is then further confused with 1033 03 06, the date of the earthquake that occurred in Constantinople. (ref #10416)1033, Dec 5. A damaging earthquake occurred in Palestine. Much of the damage was sustained in Ramla, Nablus, Baniyas and Jericho. In Ramla, 1/3 to 1/2 of its houses collapsed... many people were killed. In Nablus 1/2 of the buildings collapsed, killing about 300 people, and the surrounding country was almost totally destroyed. A landslide overwhelmed a neighbouring village of al-Badan, with all its people and its livestock; other villages met the same safe. At least half of Banyas fell down.. Half of Balash collapsed and in Syria the earth swallowed up many places with their inhabitants. Jericho sustained equally heavy damage, with the loss of life.. In Jerusalem damage was widespread... The victims reached a considerable number, which is not given. (ref #9116)

1033, Nov 26-1034, Nov 16. Many earthquakes took place during this year. In Syria 1/3 of Ramla was destroyed. The walls of Jerusalem collapsed and the Temple was severely damaged. The mosque and its minarets at El-Gaalan at Gaza were destroyed and the upper part of the lighthouse of Gaza was badly damaged.(ref #1098)

1033-1034. Int X-XI. In Syria, 1/3 of Ramala was destroyed. In Jerusalem the walls collapsed and the temple was severely destroyed. In Ghaza the mosque and its minarets at El Gaalan were destroyed also upper part of lighthouse badly damaged. In Nablus 1/2 of the city fell down, many villages in El Badou were swallowed up in the ground. In Egypt the earthquake caused much damage. There were 70,000 victims. (ref #1222)

1034, Jan 4; or Mar 6, 1032; 1039; or May 1035. A strong destructive earthquake occurred in the vast region from Syria in the northeast to Egypt in the southwest. Half of the city of Nablus and 1/3 of the city of Ramallah were destroyed. In Jerusalem, walls were destroyed, the temple was badly damaged, other buildings suffered damage. In Gaza the mosque and the lighthouse were damaged, heavy damage was caused in Ashkelon. After one or several earthquakes the sea retreated from the shore and returned swiftly. Tidal waves were observed in Gaza and in Ashkelon. The seaport of Akko became dry for a long time, then it was half destroyed by a wave. (ref #2130)

1035, April or May. From the study of the available information on these individual earthquakes, it appears that there are at least four major distinct earthquakes that occurred between 1033 and 1035 AD. (ref #26)