Tokyo scaffolding collapse video misrepresented after Turkey earthquake

This article is more than one year old.
Published on February 10, 2023 at 17:12
3 min read
By Tomás VIOLA, AFP Argentina, AFP USA
Translation and adaptation Bill MCCARTHY

Social media users are claiming a video shows a building in Turkey destroyed by the giant earthquake that hit the country on February 6, 2023. This is false; the clip is from April 2016 and shows strong winds taking down a building's scaffolding in the Tama area of Tokyo, Japan.

"Horrific videos from Turkey," says the text in one tweet shared hours after tragedy struck southeast Turkey and northern Syria.

The same footage, which appears to show a structure crumbling onto the street, also circulated in French, Spanish and Portuguese social media posts.

Screenshot from Twitter taken February 6, 2023

More than 20,000 people have died because of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, according to official reports as of February 9. But the footage shared online is unrelated.

Video from Japan

A Google reverse image search conducted using keyframes from the video reveals the same clip was featured in Japanese and other media almost seven years ago.

The reports explain that on April 17, 2016 -- following several days of earthquakes on the Japanese island of Kyushu, and heavy rains and winds that carried over into the Tokyo area -- people near Tokyo's Seiseki-Sakuragaoka Station witnessed the facade and scaffolding on a nine-story building collapse into the street.

"A strong gust of wind Sunday blew away dozens of metal panels and scaffolding that had been erected around a nine-story building scheduled for demolition near a large intersection in Tama, western Tokyo," the Japan Times reported.

The 2016 collapse was documented in videos and photographs. A report from Japan's All-Nippon News Network showed the incident from a number of angles. One recording posted to YouTube on April 17, 2016, which AFP found by running keyword searches on the site, matches the footage being misrepresented as a scene from the earthquake in Turkey.

The video's title is: "japan building collapse."

A search for the Seiseki-Sakuragaoka Station on Google Maps Street View revealed images captured in 2015 that show the same building from the video -- albeit without the scaffolding -- as well as the same red storefront positioned next to the building.

Screenshot from Twitter taken February 9, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

Screenshot from Google Maps Street View taken February 9, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

In Google Maps Street View images captured from the same location in 2017, the building in question appears to have been demolished.

AFP has debunked other misrepresented visuals shared after the earthquake in Turkey, including here, here, here, here and here.

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