Footage from 2015 Nepal earthquake resurfaces online after Tibet tremor

Published on January 10, 2025 at 09:18
3 min read
By Tommy WANG, Sophia XU, Joyce ZHANG, AFP Hong Kong

Old earthquake footage has resurfaced online in the aftermath of a devastating tremor on January 7 that killed at least 126 people in China's remote Tibet region. One video of a large crack that opened up on a road was shared across social media in several languages, but was in fact shot after a major quake hit Nepal's capital Kathmandu in April 2015.

"A 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Tibet's Shigatse city, with strong tremors also felt over in Nepal, even the ground has cracked open," read the simplified-Chinese caption of a compilation posted on video-sharing platform Bilibili on January 7, 2025.

It comprises clips purportedly showing the impact on Nepal of the devastating earthquake that struck China's remote Tibet region, leaving at least 126 people dead (archived link).

Tremors were also felt in Nepal and India, though no casualties were reported.

The first clip in the compilation shows people surrounding a large crack along a road, and the second appears to show a roundabout as a quake strikes.

Screenshot of the falsely shared post, captured on January 10, 2025

Both clips in the compilation, however, are old.

The first clip -- also shared alongside similar claims on Weibo, as well as on X in English and Hindi -- predates the Tibet quake by a decade; it was shot after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake in April 2015 struck Nepal that killed almost 9,000 people and rendered millions homeless (archived link).

The second clip also shows footage from the 2015 quake, and was debunked by AFP after other posts misrepresented it as showing the recent tremor.

2015 Nepal earthquake

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the clip showing a large crack in the road led to the same footage published by British newspaper The Guardian on April 26, 2015, crediting news agency Reuters (archived link).

"Amateur video shows large cracks down the middle of a road in Nepal after a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the region on Saturday," read part of the video's description.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip in the false posts (left) and the video published by The Guardian (right):

Screenshot comparison of the clip in the false posts (left) and the video published by The Guardian (right)

The clip was also published by British broadcaster Channel 4 News and Bengali news channel ABP Ananda in reports about the 2015 Nepal quake (archived here and here).

AFP geolocated the footage to a section of the Ring Road near Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (archived link).

Google Street View imagery taken in October 2023 shows the surrounding buildings, road markings, streetlights and utility poles match those seen in the falsely shared clip (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video published by The Guardian (left) and matching Google Street View imagery (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP:

Screenshot comparison of the video published by The Guardian (left) and matching Google Street View imagery (right)

Social media has been flooded with recycled footage of past earthquakes following the quake in Tibet, debunked by AFP here and here.

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