These Videos Don't Show The Destruction Due to Recent Earthquake in Turkey

Both videos have been on the internet since October 2020 and are not recent visuals of the earthquake in Turkey.

A set of two videos showing a building collapsing and people running to safety is being widely shared on social media linking it to the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, 6 February.

As per reports, the death toll has surpassed 4,000 people.

(Archives of more claims can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: Both these videos have been on the internet since at least October 2020.

• The first shows a building collapsing during an earthquake in Turkey's Izmir region in October 2020.

• While we couldn't find any verified source for the second clip, we found that it has been on the internet since 2020.

How did we find out? Using InVID, a video verification tool, we divided the video into keyframes an ran reverse image searches.

Video 1

The first video shows a building collapsing while people flee the spot.

We found this video in an article published by The Guardian on 30 October 2020.

It mentioned that it showed a building collapsing due to a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in Izmir, Turkey.

We also saw a still showing the same building collapsing in an article on Turkish newspaper Haberturk's website, which had also published it on 30 October 2020.

Video 2

The second video shows people walking around in a street full of dust, smoke and debris.

The reverse image search on this video's frames led us to an Instagram video shared on 30 October 2022.

• This video's caption loosely translates to 'Images from Izmir. #earthquake #izmir'.

• We also found the video on YouTube as one of an earthquake in Izmir, shared in 2020.

Earthquake in Turkey: A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit parts of Turkey and Syria on 6 February.

• The quake claimed over 4,000 lives, with at least 2,921 people died in 10 of Turkey's provinces, while Syrian state media informed that the death count in the region crossed 1,400.

• The Indian government said that two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are ready to be flown into the earthquake hit areas for search and rescue operations.

Conclusion: Both the clips are old and not related to the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)