Video of the Japan Tsunami Recirculated After the Turkey-Syria Earthquake
The Claim
A video shows a tsunami hitting the coastlines of Turkey and Syria following the recent earthquake.
News posted on
Emerging story
Following the recent earthquake that struck Turkey, Syria, and other nearby countries, social media users circulated a video clip purporting to show a tsunami hitting the coastlines of Turkey and Syria.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral video and found the claim to be misleading.
After conducting a thorough reverse image search, Misbar’s team found the video making the rounds to be old and unrelated to Turkey.
2011 Video of the Japan Tsunami Resurfaces Online
Contrary to the viral claim, the video shows the 2011 Tsunami that hit Japan at the time.
On March 14, 2011, Arabic BBC News’s YouTube channel published the same video under the title, "Dramatic pictures of the tsunami that struck Japan."
The same scene of the tsunami was captured from a different angle and uploaded to a YouTube channel called, "Rachid82UK."
According to the video’s description, the footage shows the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
The Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, also known as The Great Tohoku earthquake, was a natural disaster that struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011.
The disaster started when a magnitude-9 earthquake struck the region in the early afternoon, unleashing a catastrophic tsunami.
Over 120,000 structures were completely destroyed, 278,000 were demolished in half, and 726,000 were damaged.
The World Bank estimates that the entire economic damage could be as high as $235 billion.
2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquake
The video has gone viral after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that devastated both Turkey and Syria.
According to reports, the quake is regarded as one of the strongest to hit the region in the past century.
The death toll from the earthquakes, at the time of publishing this fact-check is above 12,000, with many people still missing and in serious condition.
The World Health Organization estimated that 23 million people were affected by the disaster.
At least 6,000 structures collapsed, many of which still had occupants inside. With some 25,000 people deployed in Turkey and hundreds more being rushed in from abroad, rescue activities remain the top priority.
Read More
This Video Does Not Show a Small Tsunami Hitting the Turkish and Syrian Coastlines
This Video is Not From a Blast at a Nuclear Facility After the Turkey-Syria Earthquake
