Old disaster videos misrepresented after Alaska earthquake, tsunami warning
- Published on July 19, 2023 at 19:47
- 4 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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"A #tsunami warning has been issued after a 7.4 magnitude #earthquake in the Alaska Peninsula region," says one of several July 16, 2023 tweets from an anonymous profile called "CBKNEWS."
The account has previously spread disinformation about past natural disasters and other events, while it has frequently promoted imagery and slogans associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory.
The video shows a tsunami making landfall, with fishermen rushing to escape an incoming wave as it barrels through their boats.
It spread shortly after a July 15 earthquake hit about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of the small town of Sand Point, Alaska, briefly sparking a tsunami warning.
Another clip the same Twitter user shared with a matching caption depicts several homes surrounded by rising tides.
But as with several other visuals the "CBKNEWS" account circulated around the quake, the two clips are misrepresented.
Both date to a June 2017 tsunami that rocked Greenland's west coast after a landslide in a fjord, reverse image searches revealed.
Several years-old videos, including uploads from the British media company Newsflare, show the same footage of the fishermen (archived here and here) and the flooded houses (archived here and here).
2018 Anchorage footage
A third tweet from the "CBKNEWS" account includes a home security camera's recording of a man scrambling to protect his children as an earthquake rattles the room.
"Video: The #Alaska #earthquake #Tsumani," the July 16 post says.
But reverse image searches uncovered the same video in news reports (archived here and here) from November 30, 2018, when a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck north of Anchorage, Alaska, according to the US Geological Survey (archived here). The reports credit the security footage to Anchorage resident Jesse Elmore, who described how his instincts kicked in as the tremors began.
Another tweet from the "CBKNEWS" page claims shows a "report on the #Alaska #earthquake this morning" is similarly misleading.
AFP traced the video to a November 30, 2018 report from Inside Edition (archived here) covering the same 2018 quake in Anchorage.
Florida clouds
A fifth clip billed as footage from Alaska shows beachgoers looking out at ominous clouds hovering above the water.
But the same footage appeared in an article from June 2021 (archived here) about apocalyptic skies in the state of Florida.
The original poster, who shared his recording to Facebook, said he captured it in Fort Walton Beach, Florida (archived here).
Social media users previously misrepresented the shot as footage of Hurricane Ian, which whirled through Florida in September 2022.
AFP has fact-checked misinformation about other earthquakes, including here, here and here.
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