Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
After a deep-sea-earthquake hit Indonesia on Tuesday, several social media users shared visuals purportedly showing the effects of tremblor in the archipelago. Among the many videos being shared online, one set of visuals, purportedly from a forest where a group of people are seen crouching and falling over due to the tremors, has gone viral. Those who shared the video claimed that it showed the recent Indonesian earthquake whose tremors were felt all the way till Northern Australia. Newschecker found the claim to be untrue.
Several Twitter and Facebook users shared the viral video linking it to the recent earthquake in Indonesia. Some users also shared snippets from the video along with other visuals to show the recent Indonesian earthquake.
Links to such posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Also Read: Video Of Bridge Collapse From Indonesia Passed Off As Visuals Of Assam Floods
Fact Check/Verification
On closely analysing the video, we spotted that the last frame of the video carried a text written in English and another language. On examining the same through Google lens, we found that the text was written in Chinese (Taiwan.)
Further, a Google reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral clip led us to a tweet by @TaoHongLiu, dated September 18, 2022. Displaying the same video, with the caption, “Taiwan earthquake.”
Taking a clue, we conducted Google reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video along with the keywords Chinese keywords 台灣 地震 2022 年 9 月 ( “Earthquake September 2022” translated in Chinese with the help of Google.” This yielded a YouTube video by @newsebc, dated September 19, 2022, titled “[Taitung Earthquake] Exclusive” “Lecturer Taught Students Trapped in a Strong Earthquake, Frightened Thinking the End of the World (translated from Chinese).”
It carried the viral clip with a description stating, “When a strong earthquake happened yesterday, “Hualien Zhuoxi Township Mountaineering Association had a lecturer leading students on the mountain. The ground shook instantly, the students screamed in fright, and the lecturer also lay down on the ground to prevent disasters. The lecturer said that he had never encountered such a strong earthquake, and he could still hear the sound of Mountain Ming.“
Another YouTube video by @TTV_NEWS, dated September 18, 2022, also carried the snippets from the viral video while reporting on an earthquake that hit Taiwan’s Hualien.
Furthermore, a Google search for keywords in Chinese including “Zhuoxi Township”, ”Mountaineering Association,” “Hualien,” “Earthquake,” & “September 2022” yielded multiple reports elaborating on the viral video. One such report by Setn, dated September 19, 2022, stated, “It turned out to be a teaching activity of the Zhuoxi Mountaineering Association. Halfway through the activity, there was a strong earthquake. Not only were the mountains and forests shaking violently, but there was even a strange roar. (translated from Chinese).
The report carried screengrabs from the viral video which have been credited to the Facebook page of Zhuoxi Township Mountaineering.
We scanned through the Facebook page of Zhuoxi Township Mountaineering Association, and found that the viral video was shared on September 18, 2022 with the caption in Chinese which translates to, “Zhuoxi Mountain at 1000 metres. Carry out hand-made trail x ethnic flora and fauna course. Gao Jianxiang was teaching when they encountered an earthquake…”
Notably, the Setn report quoted Association lecturer Gao Jianxiang as saying, “At first it was very quiet, like the sound of tinnitus “buzzing”, and then after the end, I saw the rocks falling like this, and then the whole mountain was shaking.”
Other reports on the incident can be seen here, here and here.
The False Mexican Link
Few websites shared the same video claiming to show an earthquake that hit Mexico around the same time as in Taiwan. Mexico was jolted by a major earthquake on September 19, 2022. However, the video was shared by Zhuoxi Township Mountaineering Association on September 18, 2022 – a day before the Mexican earthquake, and several Chinese news outlets reported on the incident. This helped us to conclude that the viral video is actually from Taiwan.
Conclusion
Viral post claiming to show visuals from the recent earthquake in Indonesia is false. The video dates back to September 2022, and shows visuals from Taiwan.
Result: False
Sources
Tweet By @TaoHongLiu, Dated September 18, 2022
YouTube Video By @newsebc, Dated September 19, 2022
Report By Setn, Dated September 19, 2022
Facebook Post By Zhuoxi Township Mountaineering Association, September 18, 2022
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
