Video shows 2011 Japan earthquake, not '11.9 magnitude quake in California'

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 5, 2023 at 12:20
3 min read
By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines

Footage of buildings jolted by tremors has been shared in social media posts in the Philippines that falsely claim it shows an "11.9 magnitude earthquake" in the US state of California in August 2023. However, earthquakes cannot exceed magnitude 10. The clips were in fact taken from a documentary about a devastating quake that struck Japan in March 2011.

"Sign of Jesus second coming," reads a Facebook reel posted on August 29.

The video, which has more than 1.5 million views and 16,000 shares, shows various clips of buildings and cars shaking violently and debris crashing down to the ground.

In one clip, a man kneeling on the ground points to a crack in the tarmac, saying: "The ground is cracking open!"

"California earthquake magnitude 11.9," reads text superimposed on the video, next to an image of the California state flag and the date "24/08/23".

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), earthquakes cannot exceed magnitude 10 (archived link).

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded measured 9.5 in magnitude and struck Chile in 1960, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says (archived link).

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on September 1, 2023

The video was also shared on YouTube and Facebook, while various screenshots from the clip were posted here on Facebook.

"This is really a sign of Jesus Christ's second coming," one person commented on one of the posts.

Another wrote: "That's true, you can even see it in the video. The earthquake is so strong that it reached 11.9 magnitude."

Japan disaster

While Southern California was struck by a 5.1 magnitude earthquake on August 21, there are no reports of any stronger quakes in the state on August 24, according to German-based website VolcanoDiscovery (archived links here and here).

A reverse image search found the video shows a 9.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011.

AFP analysed the order that the individual clips were used in the false Facebook reel. All 10 clips were repurposed from Japanese public broadcaster NHK's 48-minute long documentary that was broadcast on January 9, 2021 ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the powerful earthquake and tsunami (archived link).

The documentary -- called "3/11 - The Tsunami: The First 3 Days" -- compiled witness footage of the 2011 disaster.

The clips in the false video correspond to footage shown between the documentary's 3:33 to 4:19 mark and the 4:32 to 4:47 mark.

An NHK banner and the name of the documentary are visible in the top-left corner, while "March 11" -- the day of the earthquake -- is written in the top-right. These elements are covered by the California state flag and the wrong date in the false video.

Below are screenshot comparisons between the footage used in the false video (left) and the same footage as seen in the NHK documentary (right):

Screenshot comparisons between the footage used in the false video (left) and the same footage as seen in the NHK documentary (right)

The quake unleashed a towering tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing and levelled communities along Japan's northeastern coast (archived link).

An ensuing nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima plant blanketed nearby areas with radiation, rendering some towns uninhabitable for years and displacing tens of thousands of residents.

Footage of the earthquake and tsunami is frequently misrepresented as showing more recent disasters. AFP has previously debunked false claims relying on footage from the disasters here, here and here.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail