Old Video Passed Off as Recent Visuals From the Earthquake in Japan

The video could be traced back to at least 2013 and reportedly shows a tsunami hitting the Kamaishi City in Japan.

A video of several people frantically running on the streets, while several cars can be seen being swept away by flood waters is being shared on the internet with users linking it to the recent earthquake that hit Japan.

What are users saying?: People have shared the video with a caption claiming that it shows people running for their lives just as an earthquake hit Japan.

More archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.

What is the truth?: The video could be traced back to at least 2013 and is unrelated to the recent earthquake that struck Japan. It reportedly shows a a tsunami hitting the Kamaishi City in Japan.

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Hints in the viral video: On the top-right corner of the video, we found a date stamp which reads 3 November 2011. It also carried text in Japanese, which translated to, "Photographer: Takahiro Yamaguchi."

• Taking this forward, we performed a keyword search on YouTube and came across the same video uploaded on a verified channel called 'FNN311'.

• The video was uploaded on 13 June 2013 and was titled, "Tsunami surging near Kamaishi City Hall [Video provided by viewers]."

• At around the 0:18 mark, one can see similar visuals playing as the viral video.

2011 Japan earthquake: According to a report in BBC, the most powerful ever recovered struck the north-east coast in Japan on 11 March 2011 which triggered a massive tsunami. This led to ships, buildings, and cars being swept way by flood waters.

• According to the report, a state of emergency was declared at a nuclear power plant after the 8.9-magnitude quake.

• It further said that around 350 people reportedly died.

Old, unrelated videos linked to recent earthquake in Japan: The Quint has debunked several old and unrelated videos that have gone viral on social media platforms with users falsely linking them to the recent earthquake that struck Japan. You can read our stories here, here, and here.

Conclusion: It is clear that the video is old and unrelated to the recent earthquake in Japan.

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