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Taiwan experienced a devastating earthquake on April 3, 2024, resulting in collapsed buildings, landslides, and widespread power outages. The 7.4-magnitude quake and subsequent strong aftershocks struck off the east coast, leading to casualties and injuries.
Amidst the chaos, various media users shared purported videos of the earthquake’s impact on Taiwan. The videos had garnered over 50,000 views in total.
Claim 1: X user @ITismourihno shared two videos allegedly depicting the April 3, 2024, earthquake in Taiwan. The video has been archived here using the Wayback machine. The video is footage of a train shaking at a railway station.
Verdict: False. The video, which dates back to September 2022, captures a train shaking during an earthquake in Taiwan’s Hualien region.
Verification
DUBAWA utilised an Invid Video Verification, a digital verification tool, to extract key frames from the video under examination. Following this, Google Reverse Image Searches were conducted. These searches led DUBAWA to a video posted on the official Facebook page of CGTN, a news channel affiliated with the state-run China Global Television Network headquartered in Beijing.
The video was published on September 18, 2022, with a title that said, “M6.9 earthquake strikes Taiwan’s Hualien: CENC.” Its description mentioned that the earthquake derailed train carriages, damaged properties, and sparked tsunami warnings.
The other video depicts a collapsing building.
Verdict: False. The video originated in February 2023 and is unrelated to Taiwan. It captures the aftermath of an earthquake in Turkey’s Sanliurfa province.
Verification:
Following an Invid Video Verification, DUBAWA discovered the same video uploaded to CNN’s official YouTube channel. The video was published on February 6, 2023.
Its description reads, “A dramatic video shows a building collapse in Turkey’s Sanliurfa province after a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck central Turkey and northwest Syria.”
Claim 2: X user @patrickhsu0906 shared a viral video depicting multiple buildings collapsing, attributing it to the earthquake in Taiwan. In his post, he stated, “Multiple buildings have collapsed after a Pair of Massive 7.5 Earthquakes Strikes Triggering Tsunami Warnings.”
Verdict: DUBAWA’s investigation revealed that the building collapse resulted from the 2021 demolition of 15 buildings in China’s Yunnan Province.
Verification: Using the Invid Video Verification tool, DUBAWA determined that the video is nearly three years old and shows the demolition of 15 buildings in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province. The original video was posted on YouTube by a user named Billion INC on August 27, 2021. Its title was “15 Unfinished Buildings Demolished in China in 45 Seconds Explosion.”
Conclusion
The viral videos are all unrelated to the earthquake in Taiwan. The first video, dating back to September 2022, captures a train shaking during an earthquake in Taiwan’s Hualien region. Also, the two claims about the collapse of buildings were the aftermath of an earthquake in Turkey’s Sanliurfa province and a result of the 2021 demolition of 15 buildings in China’s Yunnan Province, respectively.
