By: Rahul Adhikari
February 16 2023
False: This video shows cars on an overpass taken during the February 2023 earthquakes in Turkey.
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
A video captured during an earthquake in Japan in 2011 has been misattributed to the recent earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria.
Claim ID 66dbe019
Context
Following the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, several videos have surfaced on social media claiming to show visuals captured during the quakes.
One video showing cars shaking on the road is being shared widely, claiming that it was captured live during the earthquake in Turkey.
In Fact
A reverse image search identified that the viral video is old and unrelated to the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
The video was uploaded to YouTube on February 19, 2019, with a title in Japanese, which we translated to "Metropolitan Expressway Route 6 at the time of the 3.11 earthquake Part 3." The video featured a date and time stamp that read 2011.03.11, 14:49:20, and some location coordinates.
By searching for earthquakes matching the date, time and location in the video description, we found that a 9.1 magnitude earthquake and a resulting tsunami hit the northeast coast of Honshu in Japan on March 11, 2011. An article from the United States National Centers for Environmental Information stated that more than 18,000 people lost their lives in what was the highest magnitude earthquake recorded in Japan, while 123,000 houses were destroyed in Japan alone. The timestamp in the YouTube video reads March 11, 2011, which suggests that it was captured during the 2011 earthquake in Japan.
When we searched for the coordinates in the YouTube video (35°41'49.5" N 139°47'29.8" E) with Google Earth, the results showed Mukojima Line No. 6, a toll road, part of the Shuto Expressway system serving Sumida City in the Greater Tokyo area, Japan. Using the coordinates, we compared the scene in the viral video to the Google Street View location. Both visuals show a road with a divider similar in appearance, and the building in the video and the Street View location appear similar as well.
Comparing the viral video with the coordinates on Google Maps, we conclude that the video was taken during an earthquake in Japan in 2011.
The Verdict
A video is being shared claiming to have been taken during the February 2023 earthquakes in Turkey. However, verification of the video shows it was captured in Japan in 2011. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.