Old clip of shaking bathtub falsely linked to 2024 tremor in Japan

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on January 4, 2024 at 04:34
  • 2 min read
  • By Tommy WANG, AFP Hong Kong

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After a 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit the western coast of Japan on January 1, 2024, social media posts shared a video showing water being shaken out of a bathtub with the false claim it was taken during the tremor. The clip was in fact filmed during a quake in Japan nearly three years earlier and has previously been falsely linked to another unrelated earthquake in the Philippines.

"A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck Japan and water kept spilling from the hotel bathtub," reads part of the simplified Chinese title of a clip shared on the Chinese online portal NetEase on January 2, 2024.

It was shared after Ishikawa prefecture on Japan's western coast was struck by a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake, which officials say has killed at least 78 people. The quake was measured at 7.6 by the Japanese weather office.

The jolt triggered waves at least 1.2 metres (four feet) high in Wajima, and a series of smaller tsunamis were reported elsewhere.

The Noto Peninsula was worst hit, with port towns resembling war zones with streets of mud, flattened houses and sunken boats.

Screenshot of the false post, captured on January 3, 2023

Similar clips were also shared on Chinese social media platforms Douyin and Weibo, where it has been viewed more than a million times.

But the clip is unrelated to the January 1 earthquake, and AFP has previously debunked false claims the video was filmed during an earthquake in the Philippines in December 2023.

February 2021 earthquake

A keyword search on Google led to the same footage uploaded on the US video licensing website Jukin Media and The Weather Channel in February 2021 (archived links here and here).

The Jukin Media video is titled, "Water Spills Out of Bathtub as it Shakes Rigorously During Earthquake in Japan". Its description says it was posted on February 14, 2021 and was filmed in Chiba, Japan.

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture in Japan on February 14, 2021, injuring dozens of people.

Japan's meteorological agency said the quake was considered an aftershock of the massive March 2011 tremor that triggered a towering tsunami and killed more than 18,000 people.

The Jukin Media video's caption reads: "This bathroom on the 20th floor of the building had a bathtub full of water when the earthquake hit Japan. Suddenly, it started shaking rigorously, and the bathtub's water spilled all over the place. The view of the shaking building looked scary."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false post (left) and the video on the Jukin Media website (right):

Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false post (left) and the video on the Jukin Media website (right)

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the New Year's Day earthquake in Japan here, here and here.

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