A video falsely claiming to show footage of a magnitude 8.8 tremor that hit Russia is circulating among Filipino netizens. This is false, the clip was taken in Myanmar last March.
On July 30, at least two Facebook (FB) pages posted a 25-second clip from a CCTV inside an electronics shop as strong jolts toppled the shelves. It carried the text:
“8.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE IN RUSSIA.”
The video is unrelated to the Russia quake and was taken in Mandalay, Myanmar when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck their country in March this year.
A closer look at the CCTV footage reveals its true date of publication, showing the following timestamp: “2025-03-28.”
Media organizations, including video marketplaces, published the original clip with the correct context. The 7.7 magnitude quake left 3,471 people dead, 4,671 injured and 214 missing according to reports back in April.
The video with erroneous context circulated the same day an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city in Russia.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has earlier issued a tsunami advisory following the quake, warning of minor sea level disturbances in coastal areas. PHIVOLCS has since cancelled the warning.
VERA Files has debunked other earthquake and disaster-related disinformation.
Three posts by a FB user and pages Zian TV (created on Jan. 7, 2023) and Update Daily (created on April 22, 2020 as Free Load To All Networks) collectively garnered 2,789 reactions, 104 comments, 4,355 shares and 843,000 views. The post by FB page Zian TV has since been deleted.
