The doctrine of the OTW pays only minimal, if any attention to the impact of the earthquake and the destruction it would bring upon Jerusalem. The doctrine locates the source point of the disaster as being generated from the point of the cross of Jesus, as a result of his death.
The evidence at the actual sight shows the earthquake likely to have been a magnitude 5.5. Secular Geologist, Jefferson Williams of Supersonic Geophysical, and colleagues Markus Schwab and Achim Brauer of the German Research Center for Geosciences, researched the Dead Sea and revealed that at least two major earthquakes occurred: A widespread earthquake in 31 BC and a seismic event that happened sometime between the years 26 and 36. Thus, this earthquake was clearly the one at Jesus’ crucifixion.
https://www.christianevidence.net/2017/12/historical-evidence-darkness-earthquake.html
In a country where building a structure for a home should have included safety from the structure itself, safety was not considered. The primary form of construction was unreinforced mud bricks. A 5.5 earthquake can cause such structures to collapse crushing or suffocating the inhabitants.
It’s why earthquakes in poorer countries tend to have death tolls in the thousands. However, the same quake in a developed country with a safer structure might only kill a few dozen people at most.
The most extreme example of this is the Port-a-Prince 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January 2010 which is estimated to have killed around 100,000 people. Compare that to the September 2010 7.1 magnitude quake that hit Christchurch New Zealand and caused a handful of casualties and no fatalities despite Christ Church having been hit harder than Port-a-Prince (The fact the Christchurch quake hit in the early morning did reduce casualties but the February 2011 aftershock is seen by authorities as a ‘worse case scenario’ and that killed less than 200 people – and around three quarters of those deaths were avoidable).
As far as Matthew 27 is concerned, no mention of the force of the earthquakes or even a slight tilt of any of the three crosses on the trees is made. Regardless of where the source points for the quake, the focus of the quake was Jesus’ crucifixion. The witnesses were at the focus point or nearby. This was a major earthquake of monumental proportions accompanied by a one of a kind three hour eclipse anomaly.
This earthquake was so severe that Scripture says the rocks were ripped apart. Having suffered a 5.5 magnitude earthquake, its infrastructure would have been damaged. Buildings, roads, and people would have been severely damaged and faced collapse and destruction.
The rebuilding would have needed to be organized and swift because more Jews were to be coming from all over the country to Jerusalem. This was to honor the Day of Pentecost, which occurred 60 days after the crucifixion. There would be approximately 250,000 visitors during the holiday. There would have been mass attention to the rebuilding and mass hysteria caused by the loss of life and limb, which is never mentioned in any of the gospels.
However, the timing of the earthquake is uncertain. The earthquake is likely to have happened after the crucifixion. This would correspond to the veil being torn and the rock being rolled away from the tomb of Jesus.
A later earthquake event would also explain the reason why Jesus, after his resurrection, could go among the followers of the Christian Church for fifty days without being noticed by the Roman Government and the Pharisees.
Likewise, the destruction of the earthquake, the rebuilding and the influx of visitors, would account for Jesus’ ability to hide and be ignored by the Jewish people and Roman government.
It can be argued that the reason for the devastation to be left out of the Gospels is that this story and its consequences were dedicated to the crucifixion itself and the death and resurrection of the Savior. Entering into the totality of the event could take away from what Jesus Christ was trying to accomplish.
The Saints Arose 