Food truck video unrelated to California earthquake

"Residents are currently evacuating due to the recent earthquake in #California," says a December 5, 2024 post on X. "Traffic is so bad that food vendors have come out to feed people.. #earthquake #CaliforniaEarthQuake #Tsunami."

The eight-second clip shows an overhead view of people leaving their gridlocked cars to visit a food truck also stuck in traffic.

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Screenshot from X taken December 6, 2024

Similar posts circulated across X, including in French -- with several bearing the logo for Stake, an online casino and sports betting platform.

The posts followed a powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Ferndale, California and sparked a brief tsunami warning December 5. The shockwaves triggered an alert for area residents to flee to higher ground, but it was later canceled.

News footage showed cars lining major roadways as Californians started to evacuate after the morning tremor (archived here and here).

But the video spreading on X is unrelated and more than six years old.

A reverse image search revealed ABC 7 Eyewitness News of Los Angeles posted the original footage August 24, 2018 on YouTube (archived here). 

The video's caption and an article on the outlet's website say the backup on Interstate 105 in Hawthorne, California was caused by a tanker truck that collided with another vehicle, sparking an inferno and killing two people (archived here).

As drivers waited more than two hours to pass, a food truck trapped in the traffic opened its doors and fed people at half price.

Other media footage shows the standstill from different angles, as well as the fiery tanker holding up the cars and food truck (archived here and here).

Isabel Larios, the operator of the food truck owned by AC Catering, told the Los Angeles Times that nearby motorists asked if she was opening the mobile kitchen after she started preparing coffee for herself (archived here). Soon, several drivers had left their cars and placed orders for burritos, sandwiches and coffee, according to the newspaper.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about natural disasters here.