Old videos of building demolitions falsely linked to Japan 2024 earthquake

By: Rajini KG
January 12 2024

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Screenshot of the viral video of the Japan earthquake circulating online. (Source: Instagram/TikTok/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What’s the claim?

After a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Japan on January 1, 2024, a video of a building collapse went viral on social media claiming that it was an effect of an earthquake. An Instagram user shared the video (archive here) on Jan 11, 2024, with the caption "Japan earthquake." The text on the video reads, "Japan earthquake 2024."

There are multiple videos in the clip — the first video shows a multistory building falling straight near two excavators. The second video is of the falling of building blocks. The third video shows an aerial view of multiple skyscrapers taken from different angles. The fourth video shows the collapse of the tall building which has a red banner with the text "鹏程爆破." The fifth video shows a car moving on the street and a building collapsing next to it. The sixth video shows the pole-like structured tall building falling straight and two men in red shirts watching it.

The Instagram post received over 100,000 views and more than 1,100 likes. An archive of a similar post can be found here.

Screenshot of the viral video of the Japan earthquake circulating online. (Source: Instagram/TikTok/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the videos are from different countries and taken in different time zones, and are not from the January earthquake in Japan.

Here are the facts

Video 1:

A reverse image search led us to a Facebook page named Bimcat Consultant, a consulting and technology company in Bolivia. It posted the same video on January 26, 2021, titled "Demolition in trouble (translated from Spanish." 

The same video was posted by Brut India on its YouTube channel on September 9, 2022, titled "In China, the government orders the demolition of buildings under construction." The report adds that in August 2020 the Chinese government had ordered the demolition of the under-construction buildings after a drop in the real estate market.

Screenshot of the YouTube video. (Source: YouTube/Screenshot) 

Video 2:

We found the original video of the demolition of a tall building on the YouTube channel Soymilk Papi uploaded on April 26, 2022 titled "Realistic Earthquake." The About page of the channel claims that "the videos are gameplay videos and edited and recorded by the user," confirming that the footage is animated and not real.

Screenshot of the YouTube video. (Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

Video 3: 

The third video of an aerial view of multiple buildings collapsing is from China. We found the same visuals taken from different angles on the YouTube channel W0lverineupdate uploaded on August 28, 2021. It was titled "Blasting demolition of 15 unfinished buildings of The Liyang Star City project in Kunming City China (sic)." At the timestamp of 46 seconds, we can see the demolition. 

The Paper, a Chinese digital newspaper, reported that on August 27, 2021, fifteen buildings in Kunming's second phase of Tropicana Star City, which had been unfinished for seven years, were detonated and destroyed in roughly forty-five seconds. Of the fifteen, fourteen buildings collapsed consecutively.

Screenshot of the YouTube video. (Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

Video 4:

The video of a building with a banner with the text "鹏程爆破" was found on the YouTube channel of the Chinese state media channel CCTV Video News Agency. The same video, uploaded on November 15, 2015, was titled "118-Meter-High Building Demolished in around 13 Seconds in NW China." The description reads that on November 15, 2015, a 26-story skyscraper in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China, was destroyed in around 13 seconds with the use of 1.4 tons of explosives.

Screenshot of YouTube video. (Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

Video 5:

The video of a building collapsing on a busy street was found on a TikTok account named matemusicdotnet posted on February 7, 2023. It was captioned, "Devastating earthquake in Turkey causes building collapse #Turkey #Turkey Earthquake #Turkey Earthquake 2023." The New Arab or Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a London-based Arab news media outlet, had also posted the same video on its X (formerly Twitter) account on February 9, 2023. This was recorded during the Turkey-Syria earthquake that occurred in February 2023.

Screenshot of the TikTok video. (Source: TikTok/Screenshot)

Video 6

The last video of a tall skyscraper collapsing is from China. We found the same visuals on a Facebook channel called Civil Engineering Worldwide, posted on February 21, 2021, titled "Demolition of a high-rise structure." The screengrab of the viral visual was cited by News.com.au, an Australian News media on February 25, 2023, and reports that the video is from 2021 when many unfinished buildings were demolished in China.

Screenshot of the Facebook post. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The verdict

Old visuals of buildings collapsing in China and Turkey were falsely shared as the effect of the earthquake that shook Japan on January 1, 2024. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.