A video supposedly showing a building collapse in Turkey after the 7.8 magnitude quake struck on Feb. 6 has gone viral among Filipino netizens. This is false. It is a seven-year-old video taken in Japan.
On Feb. 8, a Facebook (FB) group post carried a two-minute and 39-second compilation video supposedly showing earthquake damages. It bore the caption:
“Grabe nangyari sa turkey nito lang feb 6. 2023. Pag pray po nating sila at lagi din po tayo maging handa at mag iingat (What happened in Turkey this Feb. 6 2023 is severe. Let’s pray for them and let’s always be prepared and keep safe).”
At the start of the video, a 15-second clip of a building scaffolding falling off was played. This was not taken in Turkey.
Facebook (FB) page Valiant Japanese Language School previously uploaded the same video, saying it was captured on April 17, 2016 when strong winds hit Japan.
According to Japanese media reports, metal panels and scaffolding of a nine-story building set for demolition in Tama, Tokyo were blown by strong gusts of wind. Twitter users also reposted clips from other angles of the same incident.
Netizens all over the world circulated the video on social media platforms like FB, Twitter, Tiktok and YouTube, prompting other fact-checking organizations to debunk the claim.
More than 34,000 people were killed in the Turkey-Syria quake according to the latest reports. The Philippine Embassy in Turkey also confirmed in a statement on Feb. 10 that two Filipinos died in Antakya.
The Philippine Humanitarian Response Team also left for Turkey on Feb.8 to aid in the search and rescue operations.
VERA Files Fact Check has debunked other unrelated photos and videos passed off as the disaster’s aftermath. (Read related story FB pages circulate old photos NOT related to killer quake in Turkey and Syria)
The compilation video posted on FB group KMJSNAYAN ❤ (Aug. 28, 2015) has 283 reactions, 22 comments, 40 shares and 6,500 views as of writing.
The clip with the erroneous claim was first uploaded by TikTok user @MateMusic1, garnering at least 13 million views before it was taken down. It was also shared by FB pages like Chismis (created on Sept. 21, 2019 as Wala lang) and Daily Viral (Jan. 30, 2023).
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
