Video shows deadly earthquake in Nepal in 2015, not 2025

Published on January 13, 2025 at 05:04
3 min read
By Tommy WANG, AFP Hong Kong

Misrepresented videos continued to flood social media following the deadly January 7 earthquake that rocked China's remote Tibet region and was also felt in neighbouring Nepal and parts of India. In one recent example, a clip of trembling buildings was viewed hundreds of thousands of times in posts that falsely portrayed it as recent. It was in fact filmed during the devastating quake in Nepal in April 2015 that killed thousands.

"Today earthquake in Nepal. Time 6:51 AM 07/01/2025," read the text overlaid on a Douyin video posted on January 7, 2025. Its Chinese-language hashtag repeated the claim.

The shaky video appears to capture the moment when an earthquake hit, with dust filling a neighbourhood and a swarm of birds flying in the distance.

Screenshot of the false post, captured on January 10, 2025

The video was shared hours after a devastating earthquake jolted China's remote Tibet region, killing at least 126 people and injuring 188 others (archived link).

The quake struck rural, high-altitude Tingri county, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Mount Everest near China's border with Nepal at around 9:00 am (0100 GMT).

Tremors were also felt in Nepal and parts of India but authorities reported no casualties (archived link).

The video was viewed more than 490,000 times alongside similar claims on TikTok and was also shared on YouTube.

However, reverse image and keyword searches on Google found longer footage of the same scene published by Getty Images photo agency on April 26, 2015 (archived link).

It was filmed when a powerful earthquake hit Nepal the previous day, according to its description.

The circulating video matches the scene between 0:28 and 0:45 mark of the longer footage, which was credited to Turkey's state news agency Anadolu.

Below are screenshot comparisons of the clip in the false posts (left) and the video published by Getty Images (right):

Screenshot comparisons of the clip in the false posts (left) and the video published by Getty Images (right)

Nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 were injured in 2015 when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes (archived link).

Hundreds of monuments and royal palaces -- including the Kathmandu Valley's UNESCO World Heritage sites -- that had drawn visitors from around the world were destroyed.

UK newspaper The Guardian and US broadcaster NBC also used the clip in their reports of the disaster (archived links here and here).

According to The Guardian, the video was filmed by Turkish tourists who were in a rooftop cafe overlooking Kathmandu's Durbar Square when the earthquake hit.

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the January 2025 earthquake here and here.

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