Old earthquake footage has resurfaced online following a devastating January 7 quake that killed at least 126 people in China's remote Tibet region. One video of a large crack opening on a road has been shared on social media in several languages, but it was actually shot after the massive earthquake that hit Nepal's capital Kathmandu in April 2015.
“A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Tibetan city of Shigatse, with strong tremors also felt across Nepal, even the ground is open,” read the simplified-Chinese caption of his collection Posted on video sharing platform Bilibili on January 7, 2025.
It includes clips that show the impact on Nepal at the a devastating earthquake which hit a remote region of Tibet in China, leaving at least 126 people dead (archive link).
There were also tremors in Nepal and India, although no casualties were reported.
The first clip in the collection shows people around a large crack in a road, while the second appears to show a roundabout when an earthquake strikes.
Screenshot of the falsely shared post, captured on January 10, 2025
The two fragments in the collection, however, are old.
First clip – also shared with similar submissions Weiboin addition to X in English and Hindi – ten years ago before the Tibet earthquake; it was burned after destruction A 7.8-magnitude earthquake In April 2015, Nepal was hit by an earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and left millions homeless (archive link).
The second clip also shows footage from the 2015 earthquake, and yes posted by AFP after other posts were misrepresented as showing the recent tremors.
2015 Nepal Earthquake
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the clip showing a large crack in the road yielded the same movie published by the British newspaper The Guardian on April 26, 2015, crediting the Reuters news agency.archive link).
“An amateur video shows large cracks down the middle of a road in Nepal after a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the region on Saturday,” reads part of the video's description.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip in the fake posts (left) and the video published by The Guardian (right):
A screenshot comparison of the clip in the fake posts (left) and the video published by The Guardian (right)
The clip was also released by the British broadcaster Channel 4 news and a Bengali news channel ABP Andrew in reports on the 2015 Nepal earthquake (archived here and here).
AFP froze the footage to a section of the Circle Road near Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (archive link).
Google Street View images taken in October 2023 shows that the surrounding buildings, road markings, street lights and utility poles match those seen in the wrongly shared clip (archive link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video published by The Guardian (left) and matching Google Street View images (right), with similarities identified by AFP:
A screenshot comparison of the video published by The Guardian (left) and matching Google Street View images (right)
Social media has been flooded with recycled footage of past earthquakes following the earthquake in Tibet, posted by AFP here and here.
