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The YouTube video misrepresents videos of earthquakes that occurred in other countries as happening in China
Claim: China was hit by strong earthquakes in a “doomsday”-like event last August.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video containing the claim has 44,348 views, 847 likes, and 169 comments as of writing.
The video, posted on August 30, bears the title, “2 minutes ago! Doomsday in China! People are shocked by the news from Beijing!”
It shows various clips of people fleeing buildings and strong tremors causing massive damage to property.
The bottom line: The YouTube video does not show clips of recent earthquakes in China. A reverse Google image search shows that the video uses clips of natural disasters in other countries.
Quake in Mexico: At the 1:54 mark, for instance, the misleading video uses a clip that was originally posted on YouTube by user Didier Sánchez García on September 22, 2017. The original clip shows the effects of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico on September 19, 2017. The earthquake killed over 200 people, including many children, after schools and other buildings collapsed. The clip was used twice in the misleading video, only flipped to seem different.
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Quake in Japan: Another clip of an earthquake, originally posted on March 11, 2017, was used at the 5:37 mark of the misleading video.
The original video’s caption states in Japanese that the footage was taken in Tagajo City, Miyagi Prefecture, during the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. The record-breaking magnitude 9.1 quake struck Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami and killing over 18,000 people.
Quake in China: Despite the video’s title, no strong earthquake in China was recorded on August 30. There was, however, a magnitude-5.2 earthquake that hit the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on August 22. – Katarina Ruflo/Rappler.com
Katarina Ruflo is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
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