The sequence of major earthquake events in 1759 begins on October 30, with the smaller of the two severe main shocks this year, causing the deaths of two thousand people in Safed and other settlements.

This initial event is estimated at 6.6 on the surface wave magnitude scale and given a rating of VIII (Severe) to IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale.

This is followed by a more significant earthquake (7.4 and IX) on November 25 that destroys all the villages in the Beqaa Valley.

The areas that experience damage are roughly the same for both the thirteenth and eighteenth-century earthquakes, with the cities of Nablus, Acre, Tyre, Tripoli and Hama being affected.

The village of Ras Baalbek and the city of Damascus are both damaged and the shock is felt as far as Egypt

John Kitto, a writer and biblical scholar, documented details of the earthquakes in his 1841 book Palestine: the Physical Geography and Natural History of the Holy Land and listed first hand details of the events that were provided to him by the Scottish surgeon and naturalist Patrick Russell via his brother (also a doctor) and the Royal Society.

Russell had worked as the physician at the British factory in Aleppo for many years, and followed his brother, Dr. Alexander Russel, in that position.

The first earthquake occurred at 4 am local time on October 30, and was described by Russell as severe and lasting more than a minute, and was followed ten minutes later by a less violent shock with a duration of no longer than fifteen seconds.

Neither of these two events caused damage in Aleppo, which is in the northern region of Syria.

Word came in later on that Damascus, in the south, experienced the same earthquakes, along with several others, and was reporting considerable damage, as was Tripoli, Sidon, and Acre, all cities along the coast.

The event of November 25 takes place in the evening at 7:30 pm.

A second slight shock is felt eight minutes later, and the following night at 9 pm there is an undulating aftershock that lasts a few seconds.

Many more shocks are recorded during the following days with a forty-second event at 2 pm on the 28th.

In Aleppo, people are frightened, but no one is killed and damage is slight, and in Antioch some buildings collapse with some deaths occurring there.

In Damascus, however, a third of the city is in ruins, with many thousands having been killed.

Many who survive there escape to the fields to remain safe and, out of fear, do not return to help those in need.

Tripoli sustains more damage than Aleppo; many houses collapse and the residents take shelter in the open fields.

Acre and Ladikiah experience only minor damage to some of their walls, but the town of Safet, located on a hill, is totally destroyed and many of its inhabitants killed.

Several slight aftershocks will also occur in December and January.

The large scale temples and courts built in Baalbek during the Roman Empire had deteriorated since their construction nearly two thousand years earlier. During this stretch of time, earthquakes frequently occurred in that area, and these no doubt contributed to its dilapidated condition.

Periods of active seismicity came and went, with significant events like the 551 Beirut earthquake damaging much of the Levant and including Baalbek, but other more active periods such as 1156–57, and 1159–70 were especially destructive and repairs to the walls there were made after the earthquake of 1170.

The region had become less active seismically between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, aside from a large event that was damaging to Jerusalem in 1546; the events in 1759 interrupt this relatively silent period.

As a result of the multiple earthquakes in 1759, most of the houses and ramparts within Baalbek are completely destroyed, with many of the temples' columns toppled as well.