The Tanimbar islands in Maluku province of Indonesia were struck by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on January 10, 2022, resulting in at least four aftershocks which were felt in some parts of northern Australia. Tsunami warnings were issued to the residents but eventually lifted after three hours.
Against this backdrop, a viral video showing a group of people in a forest crouching and falling over due to the tremors of the earthquake is doing the rounds on social media. Users claim that it is from Indonesia.
A Facebook user posted the viral video with a caption: WATCH: #BNNIndonesia Reports. On Tuesday, a 7.6 magnitude #earthquake struck #Indonesia off the Tanimbar islands, forced the panic residents to flee their homes, though a tsunami warning was lifted three hours later and initial reports indicated limited damage. The Tanimbar islands are a group of about 30 islands in Maluku province, eastern Indonesia. After the powerful quake, which was felt in parts of northern Australia, at least four aftershocks were reported. According to officials from Indonesia’s disaster agency, at least 15 homes and two school buildings were damaged, and one person was injured. The magnitude 7.5 quake struck at a depth of 130 km (80.78 miles) at 2:47 a.m. local time (1747 GMT on Monday), according to the country’s geophysics agency BMKG. At 5:43 a.m., the tsunami warning was lifted. #environment Read more at: https://bnn.network/
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FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral video, and found it to be false.
Running a Reverse Image Search of the video keyframes, we identified a tweet, dated September 18, 2022, on an unverified account. The video in the tweet matches exactly with the viral clip and the caption informs that it is from Taiwan.
Also, a YouTube video titled: 【台東地震】獨家》講師教學員陷阱遇強震 驚嚇以為世界末日@newsebc (English: 【Taitung Earthquake】Exclusive” Lecturer Taught Students Trapped in the Strong @newsebc) published on September 19, 2022, on the official channel of EBC News — a news channel from Taiwan.
The clip in the YouTube video matches the viral video. As per the video’s description, it is from Hualien in Taiwan, and the people in the clip include a lecturer from the Hualien “Zhuoxi Township” Mountaineering Association and his students. Another YouTube channel TTV News — a Taiwanese news channel — had also uploaded the same video.
A Facebook post, published on the official handle of the Zhuoxi Township Mountaineering Association, dated September 18, 2022, also matches the viral clip.
As the video has been online since September 2022, there is no way it can be linked to the recent Indonesia earthquake. Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral video showing people feeling tremors from the recent earthquake in Indonesia is fabricated.
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