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| - Fact Check: Old video, image shared as that of earthquake that struck Indonesia
A video is being widely circulated on social media with the claim that it was shot when tremors struck Indonesia on December 14.
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India Today Fact Check
The viral video was shot in Alaska in late 2018. The viral image was taken after an earthquake struck Indonesia’s West Sulawesi province in January 2021.
On December 14, Indonesia was struck by an undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.6 on the Richter scale, triggering a tsunami warning. Panicky netizens took to social media, posting videos and images of earthquakes, claiming them to be of the tremors in Indonesia.
One such video posted on Twitter shows visuals taken inside a vigorously shaking house.
Another image of rescue workers walking alongside a razed building is also circulating on social media with the same claim.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the above claims to be misleading. While the viral video was shot in Alaska in November 2018, the picture was taken in January 2021 when an earthquake struck Indonesia's West Sulawesi province.
The viral posts are archived here, here and here.
The viral video
With the help of InVID tool and reverse image search, we found that the viral video has been shared earlier with different claims. In August 2021, it was shared as the Haiti earthquake.
The same video was also in circulation in 2018, with users saying it was from Alaska.
We found that the original video was tweeted by one James Easton in December 2018. While the viral video is 16 seconds long, the original video posted by Easton was 33 seconds long. In the caption, he wrote, " just a little bit shaken this morning."
On November 30, 2018, Alaska was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale. It damaged several buildings, roads and highways in Anchorage and the rest of south-central Alaska.
#akearthquake #Earthquake .@Ch2KTUU just a little bit shaken this morning. pic.twitter.com/IdVpcqdVI1 — James Easton (@JamesEastonCFO) November 30, 2018
Easton had also replied to tweets by several media houses that the video was shot by him during the tremors.
When someone wanted to know the condition of the aquarium that can be seen in the video, Easton replied, "Yes! I was running up from downstairs right as the camera tipped (under the tank) and could feel the water splashing on me. It's the first thing I checked afterwards. Lost about an inch of water. But found my Old TiVo remote."
He also posted a picture of the same.
The viral image
With the help of reverse search, we found the viral image on multiple international news websites. It was published on "Al Jazeera" on January 17, 2021.
The original photograph was taken by Yusuf Wahil of "Associated Press". The caption of the photo reads, "Damaged roads and bridges, power blackouts and lack of heavy equipment hampered Indonesia's rescuers."
As per news reports, dozens of people were killed and roads and buildings damaged in a massive earthquake in Indonesia's West Sulawesi province in January this year.
Therefore, it is confirmed that an old video from Alaska and an old image of an earthquake in Indonesia have been shared in the context of the recent earthquake in Indonesia.
(With inputs from Sonali Khatta)
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