These photos and videos show incidents that are not related to a July 2020 earthquake in Alaska

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 27, 2020 at 11:50
5 min read
By AFP Myanmar

Multiple photos and videos have been shared on social media and in various news reports alongside a claim they show damage after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the US state of Alaska on July 22, 2020. The claim is false; the content has circulated online since at least 2014 in media reports about unrelated incidents.

Damage photos

Several photos were published on Facebook here on July 22, 2020. The post has since been shared 395 times.

A screenshot taken on July 22, 2020, of the misleading Facebook post by @earthquakeresearchcentre

The post’s Burmese-language caption translates in English as: “22.07.2020. Some damage after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook under the sea floor south of Alaska”.

The photos were also published on Facebook here and here with a similar claim.

The claim is false.

A reverse Google image search found the same photos were published here in a BBC report about an earthquake in Alaska in December 2018. The report’s title reads: “Alaska earthquake: Anchorage rocked by aftershocks”.

Below are screenshot comparisons of the photos in the misleading post (L) and the photos in the BBC report (R):

Drone footage

Two photos were also published here on July 22, 2020, alongsidealongside a report about the Alaska earthquake that occurred on the same day. The post has been shared 110 times.

A screenshot taken on July 27, 2020, of the misleading Facebook post by @dailynewsmedia

The headline of the Burmese-language post translates to English as: “7.8 magnitude earthquake shakes off Alaska”.

Part of the post translates as: “United States of America , A 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook the region of Alaska in the morning of the 22nd this morning. The epicenter was reported 60 miles southeast of Perryville, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake caused extensive damage.”

The photos were also published here on Facebook and here on a website with the same claim.

The claim is false.

A reverse Google image search found the first picture is a screenshot from drone footage that shows damage in the US state of California caused by an earthquake in 2014. The video was published on YouTube here and featured in an NBC News report on the quake here on August 26, 2014.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) and the screenshot in the YouTube video (R):

Another reverse Google image search found the second photo shows a screenshot from footage of damage following an earthquake in the US state of Delaware in 2017. The original video was published by CNN here on December 1, 2017.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) and the screenshot in the CNN video (R):

Tsunami video

Footage of waves lashing a bridge was published on Facebook here alongside a claim it shows a tsunami caused by the earthquake in Alaska on July 22.

A screenshot taken on July 22, 2020, of the misleading Facebook post by @earthquakeresearchcentre

The post’s Burmese caption translates in English as: “Alaska, USA. 22/7/2020. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shakes the coast of Ville, causing a tsunami #credit video”

The post was also shared here and here in Facebook groups.

The claim is false.

A reverse image search using the keyframe of the video found the footage has circulated online since at least 2017. It was published on YouTube here on August 24, 2017, in a post headlined: “Minicoy Eastern Jetty ROUGH SEAS.”

Minicoy Island is situated in the tropical archipelago of Lakshadweep in southwest India.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) and the YouTube video (R):

Other misleading posts with the same video were debunked here by Indian fact-checking organisation BOOM in December 2017.

Shaking room footage

Interior footage of a room shaking was published on Facebook here on July 22, 2020, alongside a claim it shows damage after the Alaska earthquake. The post has been shared 227 times.

The post’s Burmese-language caption translates as: “22.07.2020. Terrible video of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake off the southern coast of Alaska. #Credit video ..”

The video was also published on Facebook here and here.

The claim is false.

A reverse image search using video keyframes found the video shows an earthquake in Alaska in 2018. The footage was featured in a report here by CBS19, a local TV news affiliate, on November 30, 2018.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the video in the CBS19 report (R):

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

E-mail